


A King's Amusement

by magickweaver



Category: Loki - Fandom, MCU, Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU Where Loki Won the Battle, Avengers Have Been Captured, F/M, Good Loki, King Loki, Loki Needs a Hug, Loki is NOT entirely evil, Loki is a fluff-ball later on, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 08:21:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 58,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6322072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magickweaver/pseuds/magickweaver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki won. And, in his wake, he reestablished Midgard as his own personal kingdom, where he was able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. That included capturing girls from around the world to work specifically for him. For his amusement, really. One day, you're captured, taken in to the palace and specially chosen by Loki himself. You're terrified, but as you work for him, you uncover secrets. With the help of your newfound friend, Dana, the both of you start to uncover what's really happening behind the closed doors of Loki's magnificent palace. </p>
<p>But when feelings start to get in the way, things get a little more tricky for all of you, especially when Thanos finds out that Loki has fallen in love with a mortal girl, and has started to ignore the strict protocol that they had set in place. Thanos threatens war upon Midgard once again. Will Loki push aside everything just to keep you close, or will he be the one to simply push you aside instead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was an eventful day when you were brought to the king. Usually, nothing was heard from the large, looming palace that now took over most of New York.

It was quiet, all around the world, really, now that it had changed so dramatically. Everyone had thought that Loki wouldn’t succeed, you know, the whole good always prevails, thing.

But not this time, despite every last effort that SHIELD had put forth, had failed to come through. Even the Avengers, that seemingly hastily put together initiative that everyone had fallen in love with the second they appeared to help try and save the world.

The endless forces of aliens that streamed through the wormhole, had taken them down, one by one. You had heard rumours, they were being kept as the king’s prisoners, slaves, or even dead. Even the king’s brother, nothing was to be heard of him, despite his powers being the same as Loki’s.

The world had been driven to madness, a darkness that loomed over the world like thick, smothering fog. It made you shiver in fear from the moment you woke up to the second you slipped into sleep, which wasn’t much better.

Your existence had become that of a sheep, being led by a man you barely knew, your ‘freedom’, as he liked to call it, chains around your neck, wrists, and ankles, metaphorically, of course.

So, you never thought it could get any worse, you really, really didn’t.

Until they came for you that morning.

You were barely awake then, stumbling out of bed and pushing your hair out of your face, quickened by the urgency of the raps that came at the door every second you didn’t open it.

You were half expecting it to be someone you knew, nearly expecting it to be one of your family members who had pissed off a guard and came to you for a place to hide out for a while.

You wished that it were your annoying, bitchy aunt, coming to try and take advantage of what you had.

But… You weren’t so lucky.

As soon as the door was opened enough for an arm to slip through, one shot out at your shirt, grabbing it and nearly tearing the flimsy sleeping material from you. You shrieked in absolute terror, trying to get the person who was grabbing you off. You only stopped when you noticed the shiny, neatly polished armour of the palace guards.

Your eyes, widened in terror, blinked in confusion. Why were palace guards coming for you? They barely ever left the palace, hence their name.

A bright flash of light came to your eyes, and you winced, not ready for something like that; blinking away the temporary blindness you had been given.

“(First Name) (Last Name), you are herby summoned by the magnanimous king to appear in his courts at seven thirty, on the day of July 15, 2012. Resistance to this request will be considered disobedience of the king, and you will be sentenced to punishment. Is this clear?”

You nodded, really not processing the words, still hung up on the fact that you were being taken to the palace. You didn’t even know what to say, what questions to ask, knowing that you probably weren’t going to be given any answers, anyway. They took your arms, escorting you out of your home quickly, not bothering to let you put on shoes, or even presentable clothes, hell, your hair was still tangled all over the place.

Whatever they needed from you, it was urgent.

X

When you were taken to the palace, you realised that you weren’t the only one being summoned today. Steady streams of young women were being led to the palace, and that made terrible shivers wrack your body.

There were about a hundred in front of you as you were merged into the line, and maybe a hundred more behind you. They were all frightened, some more than others. But what was odd was that we were all quiet, not one of us was resisting the guards. Which was probably a good thing, a riot would make the morning even worse than it already was.

The line filed quickly into the palace, being led through the halls to the large throne room, filled with intricate architecture, both modern and entirely ancient. It was commanding, and the man at the head of the room, dressed in black and gold, led its entirety.

Seeing Loki in the flesh sent even bigger shivers down your spine, your shivers shaking your knees and making you feel as if you’ll keel over.

They line you up in rows, much like a military formation, and the doors are shut with a final, resounding thud in the background, complete silence from the women in the room. The only thing that was heard was the echo of heavy footfalls on the immaculately polished floors.

After several moments, Loki stepped down from his throne, a smile stuck to his face like sticky honey. It disgusted you, and it made you want to wretch, only imagining the things that hid behind the smile. You brushed your hair down with your fingers as best you could, the tangled utterly annoying you, making your scalp twinge.

Loki spoke no words as he scanned the rows of women, his eyes peering deep into the women in front of him, an amused look coming to his face when the women weren’t able to meet his gaze back.

It wasn’t until you saw what happened in the second row down, that you were seriously debating throwing up on the floor just to be taken out and hopefully sent back home.

Loki had passed a girl with medium length blue hair, and the next thing, the girl with blue hair was being taken off to another room, her face utterly panicked and not entirely sure what was to happen.

You were shaking like a Chihuahua by now, and it didn’t help that he was approaching like a hungry tiger, row after row. At least ten other girls were taken to the same room that the blue haired girl was taken to, nothing being heard from them after they passed through the doors.

You were so terrified of being chosen and shown what horror was behind that door that you didn’t know Loki was nearing you until your eyes locked with his, the emerald orbs gleaming with power. You were debating looking down, until he raised a hand, motioning for a guard to come closer. You lost it quite quickly, turning on your heel and trying to escape from the guard’s grasp.

However, they were too quick for you, and they grabbed you. Your arms were wrenched back, and you yelped in pain, hearing Loki’s dark, terrifying chuckle sounding in your ears.

“How cute, the little one is scared. She’s like a doe bucking away from her captors.” He steps closer to you, his face coming closer to yours, his movements reminding you of a snake. “Be careful with how you present yourself, little one. You aren’t off to a very good start, so I’ll be paying close attention to you.”

You shivered again for the thousandth time that morning, becoming limp as the guards took you away, knowing that you drew all of the stares in the room, which didn’t help your nerves what so ever.

The room you were taken to held the ten other girls that were taken, who were all sitting down, their eyes staring off into the distance. They all looked up at you as you entered, eyeing the guards suspiciously, only looking back at you when they left.

The blue haired girl got up, grabbing something from behind her and coming towards you with a dull expression on her face.

“They told me to tell you to change into these. And you might want to brush out your hair all the way through…”

You nodded thanking her quietly, looking around before ducking behind a dressing partition. The outfit that was given to you was made of a light, deep green fabric. It was baggy, the sleeves hanging around your arms loosely. The bodice, until you noticed a thin black rope fall from the clothing bundle, hung very loosely around you. It annoyed you how baggy it was, the fabric hanging down on your chest much further down than you’d like. You tied the rope around your waist, making the fabric fit around you much better. However, the fabric around the neckline still dropped lower than you felt entirely comfortable with.

But hey, its not like they left you completely naked. That would have been something you wouldn’t have been pleased with.

You sighed, running your hands through your hair, happy that the tangles weren’t particularly crazy today, and tamed rather nicely. Apparently, today was a really good hair day. How ironic.

The blue haired girl looked up at you again, sighing gently, a sad look in her eyes.

Feeling a small sense of safeness towards her, you stepped over to her, sitting next to her. You didn’t know why, but you sensed that she was strong, and that she could be very protective. Which comforted you.

She glanced over at you, no expression on her face what so ever. However, she was nice to you when she spoke.

She spoke softly, like she was afraid that if anyone heard her talking she would get in trouble, “I’m Dana. What’s your name?”

“(First Name).”

She nodded, “I had a friend once with your name.”

“Really? That’s… Cool, I guess.” You sighed softly.

Dana sighed too, putting her head on her hand, “I don’t want to know why we were the ones taken out of the group. I’d rather be with the majority, for once in my life.”

Another girl piped in, leaning towards you two, “I heard that we were chosen for meeting Loki’s eyes. And that we were chosen for ‘personal’ maids.”

You and Dana blinked, and the blue haired girl sighed heavily, tilting her head down and saying harshly at herself, “I knew I should have looked down, dammit.”

You sighed, nodding slowly, pressing your hands against your face.

Being chosen as a personal maid of Loki brought all sorts of dark imaginations to your head.

From here on out, you suspected, would be an adventure that would probably remain with you until your last coherent thought on your deathbed.


	2. Chapter 2

Throughout the next hour or so, three more girls came into the room, their wide eyes saying that they regretted not looking away. That they would have taken the fate of whatever the rest of the women were getting, rather than the knowledge that they were now Loki’s.

Hell, even you would have taken a guard’s sword to the stomach right now. But you stopped yourself, knowing that it wasn’t right to take such a cowardly way out. The optimist inside of yourself kept telling you that it might not be so bad; you just had to wait it out.

But the pessimist thoroughly tried to crush any sort of optimism within you. And it worked, sort of.

The blue haired girl, that sat next to you still, was much more optimistic than you were, even if it didn’t really show in how she spoke. No, she still spoke lowly of the situation, but she seemed to word it like it could always be worse.

And you guessed it could, so far, nothing was happening, except sitting in a room with a bunch of other girls.

A while later, when a distant thud of the large, imperial doors that led to the front courtyards, you and all the rest of the girls sensed that the choosing was all over. It brought a collective shiver to the group, and the tension was so thick that it could have been snapped like sticks under a heavy boot.

And when another door, that was much closer to the room you were in, opened and slammed shut, you were sure that something terrible was about to happen.

But nothing did. A small group of guards, about seven of them, appeared in the doorway, speaking to each other in a tongue that was completely unfamiliar to you.

They came closer to you and the group, and Dana stood, her stance entirely defensive.

“What’s going to happen to us? We deserve a right to know.”

The guard at the front spoke after a moment of hesitation, “You have been specially chosen for Loki’s personal maids. He, in time, will choose the ones he likes best.”

“And what will happen to the others?” Her tone was harsh with anger and curiosity.

The guard sighed, stepping up and grabbing her arm, as well as yours, since you were the next closest to him, “Perhaps you’ll be able to find out.”

She grumbled something to herself, probably just a string of profanities, but yet another terrible imagination sprung to life within your paracosm. You were too afraid of what might happen if you didn’t appease Loki.

But then again, why would you want to be serving him? Your fate would most likely be death either way, why were you even considering trying to do what he asked?

An argument broke out within your head, between the devil and angel on your shoulders, their tiny voices duking it out, distracting you from where you were being taken.

When you finally came to, you were in another room, a room much like the one you had waited in, but larger, filled with beds. There was one for all thirteen of you, placed right next to each other, much like a large dorm room.

You glanced over at Dana, who was surveying the place like she planned on digging a hole through the floor with a plastic spoon and a bedspring in the middle of the night.

You kept looking at her, and her eyes finally met yours after a while. Her gaze seemed to communicate that you were both in this together now.

You sighed gently, looking back towards the room, feeling the guard that was holding you release your arm. You let out a soft breath of relief, rubbing your arm from where he had held you.

“You shall remain in here until you are called, no excuses. Disobey and you will be punished.”

Again, more vague threats of punishment that sprung to life within your head, making you wince.

In another situation, you might have rolled your eyes at those vague threats, but this was much more real. After all, you were dealing with a very powerful man as your ‘master’, and his guards seemed to be cut from the same cloth that he was.

Out of this world, terribly powerful, and overwhelmingly intimidating.

Without another word, the guards turned on their heels, armour clinking collectively as they marched with the utmost precision out of the room, bolting the door shut. You were pretty sure that they also left a guard or two outside of the door, not for protection, but for making sure that none of you escaped.

Of course, there were windows, and you shuffled closer to one, peering out the thick glass. Beneath were several stories, which you weren’t aware of ever climbing. But, then again, you were too distracted with your internal arguing.

You stepped away from the glass, backing up and moving to sit on a bed, furthest away from the door. You sat dead in the middle of the stiff mattress, your knees pulled up to your chest and your arms wrapped around them. You stared off into space, not really thinking of much else.

However, another girl came into view, her face stern, staring down at you like she was going to beat you. You looked up at her without much expression, wondering why the hell she was even near you.

“Get up. This is my bed.”

You shook your head, “I never saw you sitting in it when I came over.” Typical bully, trying to claim what wasn’t theirs if they wanted it.

She growled, moving closer and snarling idle threats to you about what she would do if you didn’t move immediately. But you weren’t about to; she wasn’t going to scare you out of a bed. It wasn’t like this bed was more special than the others; it was just furthest away from the door. Which was probably the most desirable, as it meant you’d be the safest should something try and come in.

When Dana saw this, she stepped over, crossing her arms, “Get out of (Name)’s face. Right now. There are plenty of other beds for you to have.”

The girl moved her snarls onto Dana, who just simply stared right back at her, face as stern as the girl moving towards her, “What are you gonna do to me if I don’t, Pinny Lane?”

Dana blinked, before sighing, “Calling me a character from My Little Pony is really not helping me take you seriously.”

The girl hissed, “I asked you a question!”

“I’m not going to do anything to you, I just said to back off. If you haven’t noticed, we’re all in this shit hole together, and being a brat isn’t going to get you protected. Think of it like you were in a prison. Make some friends, and pick a bed that isn’t taken.” Her calm demeanor was sort of terrifying, especially since Dana wasn’t really too tall, probably 5’4” or so, especially compared to the girl who was looming over her. You just watched with widened eyes.

Eventually, after staring like two cats about to pounce on each other, Dana got the other girl to back down. She looked over at you, and you opened your mouth to speak, “Why are you protecting me? We barely even know each other.”

She shrugged, “It’s not just for you, I’d do it for the rest of the girls in here. I don’t see the point of letting someone get harassed without trying to step in. Especially over something as silly as a bed.”

You nodded slowly, “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

A flicker of a smile passed across her lips, before she nodded back curtly, “Don’t mention it.”

With that, she turned on her heel, walking towards one of the beds that hadn’t already been taken, sitting down on the mattress and letting out a sigh. You sighed as well, turning so you were lying down, pulling up the blanket at the end of the bed over your shoulders.

Maybe if you closed your eyes you’d wake up, and it would all just be a bad dream. You’d be back in your bed, curled up in a tangle of blankets, hair still wild around your head.

That thought seemed to comfort you enough to let you lull into a state where you were neither conscious nor unconscious. You were dozing, completely relaxed, which was a relief to your mind, stressed as it already was.

X

When you came to, there was a heavy banging on the door before it opened, and a guard was already barking out orders.

“Line up! All of you! Quickly!”

All of the girls scrambled around the room, trying to line themselves up.

You were frantic as well, but in your haste to throw the covers off you, your legs were tangled in the clinging fabric causing you to trip off your mattress and hit the ground with a thud.

You cringed as you hit the hard ground, your arm slamming hard against the marble, along with your hips soon after, which hurt like hell. This commotion called the attention of the guard barking orders, and he came to you, kneeling down, his eyes both amused and annoyed.

“What do you think you’re doing, flopping all over the floor like a fish?”

You cringed again, moving so you were sitting up, sliding the blanket off of your legs, “I’m… I’m sorry, the blanket just got tangled around my legs, and so did my dress…”

He sighed, shaking his head and hauling you up by your arm, “I guess then you’ll be first, since you’re so intent on calling attention to yourself.”

You blinked, “First?” You asked before you could just shut up and nod, “What do you mean first?”

The guard looked down at you, “Evaluation.”

He stated it simply. Telling it to you like it was the last question he would answer at the moment, despite the thousands of questions that sprung to life in light of the simple word he had spoken.


	3. Chapter 3

The guard led you across the palace, winding around intricate passageways, your mind completely losing track of where you were going the second you left the throne room.

He took you to a very large bedroom, adorned with the colours of gold, green, and black.

Loki’s room… You thought to yourself, your eyes scanning the space, admiring its vaulted ceilings and beautiful decoration along the walls. The guard left you there, standing as you were in the center of the floor.

It was then when you were alone for several minutes, wondering exactly what you were supposed to be doing. You were unaware of what you should be doing, so you just stood there, completely void of action.

After nearly ten minutes, Loki appeared to you, seeming to shimmer into visibility, as if he had a spell of invisibility cast over him. You assumed he probably did, amusing himself to you just standing there like an idiot for ten minutes.

He looked over you, his eyes boring holes straight through you. You were completely unnerved, wanting to drag your nails all over your skin to tear off the feeling his eyes gave you. It drove you mad, and you absolutely hated it. But you stood your ground, keeping tall, and meeting those same eyes you had stared straight into hours earlier.

He smirked darkly at you, strutting in your direction, not saying a word.

You kept watch of him as he circled you, trying not to flinch when he trailed a hand down an arm, lifting up your chin with a crooked finger. His touch making the thin hairs on your body stand straight up on end.

“You have such a fire in your eyes. I’ve seldom seen it in a Midgardian.”

Your tone was frozen when you spoke to him, “Does that make me special?”

He shook his head, “No, it doesn’t. It’s just unusual.” He continued looking at you with those eyes, those glittering, cruel eyes, observing your every detail. “This dress is very ill fitting. I’d like you to get another one before you are to work for me.”

You nodded in complete agreement, “I’d rather like a dress that didn’t have a neckline lower than my bra.”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head. His hair brushed against his cheeks, feathery and dark. “Of course, I could just have you wear nothing instead. In fact, I might have you do such a thing, rather than wasting my time to get you another one.”

You blushed harshly, gritting your teeth at the suggestion. You would never strip yourself down in front of this man, it was a line you’d never cross.

He seemed to read your thoughts in the quiet room, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I’ve seduced many women with just a simple look and a sweet few words. How do you know you wouldn’t fall to your knees as readily as them?”

You looked straight at him, “Because I don’t go for tyrannical aliens.”

Silence engulfed you both for several deafening moments. It was so terrible that it caused you to break the silence first, even though you would have much rather him broken it.

“What are you planning on doing with me?”

He stopped in front of you, his hands clasped behind his back, “I intend for you to become my servant. I’m in need of people to help me keep this castle in order, so I might as well gather women who are pleasing to look at.”

You blinked, “So, that’s all I am to you, a cleaning lady with a nice face?”

He nodded, “I didn’t say that it would be pleasant or fair. You’ll hate it here, I’ll tell you that much. But I am your king, and you will do as I say, whether you enjoy doing it or not.”

As much as your new fate disgusted you, you had to admire his honesty, brutal as it was. You assumed had you been in any other position, your ‘master’ would have tried to tell you that it wouldn’t be so bad if you ‘bent to his will’, or ‘if you did what you were told without complaint’.

At least him telling you that you wouldn’t enjoy it set the bar so low you couldn’t possibly be disappointed with the outcome of your situation.

You shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be somewhat pleasant, if you keep telling me the truth.”

In an instant, his head flew back, and a hearty laugh spilled from his throat, a hand clutching his side as he completely lost himself in ringing laughter.

You watched him, slightly confused as to what he could possibly find so funny. Soon enough, his head tipped back and he sighed, taking a few small breaths before he smirked at you in utter amusement, “Oh, my darling… You must not know a thing about me.” He came a bit closer to you, leaning down so his face was uncomfortably close to yours, nearly within kissing distance.

“I am the god of tricks and lies.” He started, his eyes gleaming at you darkly, “It is seldom that the truth ever fully escapes from my lips. In fact, it hurts to speak the truth, quite a bit like knives against my lips. So you will not be graced with such things as my servant. I will tease you, trick you, and completely embarrass you… But, my little doe, I will never speak the truth to you.”

You blinked, several times, an uncomfortable feeling rising in your chest, instinctively stepping back from him and looking at the ground, away from his eyes.

“It is not my nature. If you want truth, you should speak with Syn.” He finished fluidly, turning on his heel. “Come with me now. This is your evaluation, not a time for idle chatter.”

You walked with him, curious as to what he would ask of you.

He opened a small door that led to what you assumed to be a bathroom, leading you inside, but leaving the door wide open, for some strange reason.

But soon you realised you would have to be the one to close it, as he was slowly raising a brow at you, seeming to question why you were being so idle.

You hurried over to it, shutting it with a dull click. He nodded very slightly, as if in approval. You hurried back up to him, not wanting to stop and do nothing again, slightly fearful that he might punish you, should you not do what he wished.

“Draw me a bath, doe. And gather my clothing when I am finished.”

You nodded, “Is this what you’ll do with all the others?” You knew it was a stupid question, but today, you really weren’t sure of anything.

He shook his head, “I won’t, no. I just feel like taking a bath this moment. The others may be tasked with a meal, helping me dress for bed, or cleaning things for me.”

You nodded, looking at the large bath confused. You finally found the faucet, stopping to make sure that the water wasn’t too hot or too cold.

“Is the water too hot?” You asked him cautiously, watching him as he trailed his fingers through the water.

“No, it is not.” He said, moving to undress himself. He didn’t even have the decency to go behind the dressing partitions that were scattered about the room, much to your amazement. You averted your eyes downward, focusing on your nails, as he got ready for the bath.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed that he had slipped into the bath, most of his body covered by the rippling water.

You finally glanced upwards, not daring to look anywhere but his face, remembering what else you were asked to do. You gathered his clothing quickly, not sure what to do with the solid pieces of armour. You just focused on folding the clothes he had worn, setting the armour on top of the pile and setting it down on a table near an ornate dressing partition.

And since you’d rather not see him unclothed again, you picked up a small table near the second partition in the room, gathering a few towels and placing them on the table next to the bath.

You smiled at yourself, admiring your work.

Loki watched you silently, before calling you over, “Ready a cloth for me to cleanse myself with. Or if you wish get in the bath with me and wash me.”

You refused to step into that water, instead moving around to lather up a small square of silken cloth, moving over to give it to him.

“On the second thought, join me, doe.” He said as soon as you reached out your arm to give him the soapy cloth.

You blinked a few times, before stepping towards the bath and sliding into it, refusing to take off your dress. This was a time that you were happy that the fabric was so dark, since it didn’t allow Loki to peer through the already thin and baggy material to what was underneath.

You moved towards him, noticing that the pleasantly warm water turned slightly frigid as you came close to him. You swallowed hard, pressing the cloth against him and rubbing soapy circles across his chest. You averted your gaze the entire time, blushing hard when he told you to move your hand lower, ordering you to wash his entire body.

You were immensely glad when you finished; sure a permanent blush had completely stained your cheeks.

However, he never told you to leave the bath, so you were afraid of leaving it and getting yelled at. So you stayed, sitting on the opposite side of the bath, looking into the water at your feet as he washed his hair, finally choosing to step out.

“You may get out now, however you are not to get water on my floor.”

You swallowed again, draining the water before wringing your dress out as best you could, grabbing a towel Loki had left behind to place under your feet, successfully able to dry off, insanely careful not to get even a single droplet of water on the floor.

When he was dry and completely dressed again he came out to you. Standing in front of you and looking you up and down.

You looked back up at him rather timidly, but met his eyes all the same.

“You have preformed well today, doe.”

You nodded slowly, barely moving your head, “Thank you…” You were starting to shiver again, but not from being afraid, but from being cold due to the clinging fabric of your dress.

He noticed you quaking, “When the guard comes to get you, tell him I ordered for you to have a new dress.”

You blinked, nodding again, “Thank you.”

He smirked, lifting up your chin with a finger, ignoring your gratitude, “Doe, you must learn to address me properly.”

“W-What do I call you?”

“My king, my lord, Master, King Loki, your majesty… Anything of the sort is acceptable.”

I nodded, “Yes… My… My lord.” It was slightly painful for you to utter those words, as you didn’t think of him as the names he told you to give him. You would rather call him all sorts of terrible names, but you knew you’d probably get your head sliced off immediately should you call him any of those.

You saw his lips turn up in a pleased manner, “Good little doe. You have done well today. I shall keep you for now. You may wait out in the hall for the guard to come. Do not go anywhere, should you be so foolish to try and escape.”

You nodded not really knowing what else to do, adding a quick, ‘Yes, my lord.’, before scurrying out the door, dropping to your knees outside of the large doors of Loki’s chambers.

Good news, you weren’t being kicked out, bad news… You weren’t being kicked out.

You huffed, putting your hands on your knees and blinking, wanting this all to be a terrible, terrible dream even more so than you already did.


	4. Chapter 4

You were taken back to the room quickly after replacing your dress (which fit much, much better, and you were extremely happy about that), the guard pushing you back inside the room hastily, picking another girl immediately after, like he was on a schedule and he was already getting behind.

All eyes were drawn to you, then to the girl that was being picked. Her eyes were watery, nearly bubbling over with tears. You felt bad for her, unaware of how she was easily able to meet Loki’s eyes and get through to this entire thing, but was breaking down now, in this moment. You just guessed that she couldn’t handle the reality of something like this. She didn’t fight them though, just protested verbally, her voice cracking and her body shaking.

You could tell she wouldn’t make it through very long. You could tell Loki liked to be entertained, and the crying, weak-willed act wouldn’t be substantial for very long if she kept it up.

You sighed gently, shaking your head and sitting back down on your bed, hearing the door shut hollowly once again, and feeling the weight of twenty-two eyes land upon you once again.

They all clouded around you slowly, and you didn’t look up until quite a bit later, blinking at how close they all were. Their eyes were filled to the brim with curiosity, some looking as if they’d burst if you didn’t give details.

A brown haired girl leaned forward, her long, straight hair falling over her shoulders, “What happened?”

You sighed, your shoulders slumping. You flopped back against the pillows, putting your hands over your eyes, debating on whether to say anything.

You supposed it would be fine, and you’d get to give them all a head’s up on what would happen to them.

You took in a deep breath, before sitting up slowly and looking at all of them, “Loki had a job for me. He told me I’d help him with his bath.” You paused and swallowed, before continuing, “There’s quite a few details… But in the end, it was a task to judge how well you could service him, and he said he’d make up different jobs for each of you when you were called.”

The girls nodded at what you said, and another girl with a pixie cut stepped into your view, “What was it like? You don’t look too happy, especially now.”

You nodded, “Of course I’m not happy. But… It was somewhat terrifying, he’s intimidating, and he has that air about him that he’d snap you in two if you annoy him too much. But if you do what he asks you, he won’t do anything to you. And addressing him as ‘My Lord’ helps.”

The girl with the pixie cut laughed, “Is this some sort of medieval role play?”

You smirked, “Maybe. I honestly have no idea anymore.”

She laughed, shaking her head and muttering something as she stepped away. The rest of the girls watched her as she returned to her bed. Dana stepped forward after a while, sitting next to you and looking over you critically.

“He didn’t try anything with you, did he?”

You shook your head, “No… He didn’t.”

“Good… Although I really don’t know what I could even do if he did.”

You nodded, not really knowing what to say, “I guess just don’t let him do anything funny with you.”

She chuckled, shaking her head, “Does it look like I’d let him try anything funny with me?”

You glanced at her, before laughing softly and shaking your head, “No, you don’t.”

“Smart girl. I’d only ever let one man touch me like that…” She got a sad look in her eye, “But I haven’t seen him since Loki took over.” 

You looked back over at her sadly, not wanting to ask her what happened to him, since you didn’t know her well enough to ask, and it really wasn’t your place.

She huffed, shaking her head and standing up, “But things change, you know? We just have to work through with what we’re given.”

“I guess that’s a good way to look at life.”

X

Hours and hours passed, girl by girl were taken in for their evaluation. Dana was one of the last ones to be chosen, and when she was, she was practically towing the guard out the door. You knew it wasn’t in excitement, but in just complete desire for whatever she would go through to be over before it even started.

Dana’s POV

I hated being held with my arms bound next to me.

They held me like I was being taken prisoner, though I technically I already was. So, I really wasn’t sure why they held me with so much force, like a girl my size, even with as much muscle as I had built up from years of ballet training (which made you tough as hell in your legs, and arms too), I couldn’t possibly imagine taking a guard down. But, it must have just been precaution, to keep me from running if I ever got the chance.

I kept completely quiet, keeping my eyes trained forward, scanning the palace. Maybe if I could map this place out well enough, I’d get the foolish hair to try and escape from this place.

I smirked inwardly, shaking my head and sighing. The guard that held me carted me into a room, shoving me into the center of the floor and locking the door immediately behind me.

I crossed my arms, knowing that my ‘master’ would make me wait, from what the other girls had told the rest of us when they’d returned. It just seemed like he was an asshole for no reason, and I really hated that, even though I hadn’t even met him yet.

“Ah, ‘My Lord’? I’m here.” I said with a roll of my eyes, crossing my arms and looking all around.

It took a few more minutes before he finally spoke, coming from behind me, “It seems you’re the one with the most spunk. How very… Refreshing.”

“Yeah. I’ve been told. What do you want me to do for you?”

He smirked, shrugging, “It seems you’re the last one to be picked.”

I nodded choosing to answer even though I really didn’t have to respond, “As far as I’ve counted.”

“Then I’d like you to ready me for bed.”

I grit my teeth, before looking around, “That would mean getting your jammies on for you too?”

Loki’s eyes narrowed in confusion, before he finally figured out what the word ‘jammies’ meant, and nodding slowly.

I huffed softly, moving over to his bed and trying my hardest not to rip off the throw pillows, and throw the sheets halfway off the bed. I was trying to keep myself alive and not at the mercy of his annoyance. I was sometimes reckless, and considered a little foolish, but I really wasn’t that stupid. I instead took the throw pillows off nicely, stacking them in the long chest at the end of the bed. “I assume you sleep on the right side of the bed?”

Loki chuckled, “Yes. You’d be correct.”

I sighed softly again, pulling the blankets back and then turning to look at him. “Where are your night clothes, ‘My Lord’?”

He pointed to a small dresser, and I moved to it, taking out the light, darkly dyed linens that he would wear to bed. I set them on a table near him and looked at him, meeting his eyes as the both of us stood there.

I was waiting for him to start taking off his armour, and when he didn’t, I had to admit a small bubble of worry bloomed in the pit of my stomach. There was no way I wanted to get into a stare off with this man right now, I had absolutely no patience for something like that.

You grit your teeth again, moving forward and tapping a fingernail against the gold metal on his armour.

“I have to admit I’ve never undone a piece of armour in my life. Would my ‘master’ be so kind to assist me?”

A small chuckle came deep from Loki’s chest, and he pulled my hands away from his chest, motioning for me to watch him carefully as he started to take off his armour.

It seemed complicated, what he did, the many straps and loops that went into the armour on his chest. In what seemed like five minutes, he had it all stripped away, a black leather tunic remaining over his torso. He handed me the pieces of armour, and I moved to put it away as neatly as I could on a small dresser near a partition.

I returned to help him take off his tunic with a stone face, handing him the soft linen shirt as soon as the other one was off. The same happened with his pants shortly after.

He slipped into bed, settling down on the pillows, his raven hair fanning out behind him. I stood there for a moment, before making sure that the blankets were where he liked them.

“You did well. However, I’d rather you stop addressing me sarcastically. My title is something to be respected, dear, not treated as a childish joke.

I wanted to roll my eyes, and granted, they almost did, but I was able to keep them still and on him as I nodded.

“I’m sorry. I’m not used to this.” I said with a small sigh, finally letting my uneasiness show through the tiniest bit.

“As well as everyone else, dear. You’re quite spirited, though. Like the first girl I called in here…”

“(Name).” I said simply. Even if he was an oppressive… King, he should at least know the names of the girls that he oh so specially chose.

Loki nodded slowly, “Yes, (Name). The little doe.”

“Is there anything else you need?” I changed the subject immediately, knowing that I could leave soon if he didn’t need me anymore. And hopefully he wouldn’t ask me to sleep with him; I’d probably refuse completely even if it was a direct order.

He shook his head, “No. I don’t. You may leave. Wait for the guard to take you back to your room.”

I nodded slowly and turning on my heel to walk right out the door without another word in his direction.

Your POV

Dana came back the quickest out of all of them, and looked the most annoyed out of all of them, which surprised you; she seemed so cool and collected before. Maybe Loki had done something that she just couldn’t stand. But knowing her, little as you did, it was probably everything Loki did that would annoy her.

“What happened?” You were the first to speak to her when she came through the door.

“I helped the prick to bed. That’s all. Thank god.”

You bit your lip, “Yeah. You got off lucky…”

She nodded slowly, sighing heavily and throwing herself down onto her bed. “He likes me, I know. Which is good.”

You nodded along with her, “Then we both make it through together. I know that’s going to be a good thing.”

Dana looked up at you, “It is. But I am not going to stay his cutesy little servant girl forever. I refuse to serve someone that kills for fun.” She finished with a hurt hiss, but you pretended not to notice the last part, unaware of where the animosity came from. Maybe the Chitauri had killed someone close to her in the fight, her boyfriend, sibling, anyone.

You came over to her bed, sitting next to her, “I wouldn’t say that so loudly, haven’t you ever seen those shows with hostages and stuff like that?”

She gave you a weird look, before shaking her head and looking down at her lap, “And I really don’t care what anyone hears in here. But I appreciate your concern, (Name).”

“You’re welcome. And we should probably go to bed. I don’t know how late it is, but I’m tired… And it might be a good idea to be up early.”

“That’s a good idea. Goodnight, (Name).” She said, moving to start to lie down and pull the blanket over her shoulders.

“Goodnight, Dana…”


	5. Chapter 5

When you were finally able to fall asleep, you slept wonderfully. Not a single thing awoke you that night, which was odd, normally a person in an unfamiliar situation wouldn’t sleep too well, but you did.

However, like most days, you were woken up much too early, opening your eyes quickly when a guard slammed his fist on the door, a thick, nearly British-like accent barking out orders and names. About a third of the girls were called, their glances and block movements indicating that they had no clue as to why they’d been called. Apparently working here was about as mysterious as the unknown.

“The girls who have been called, ready yourselves and be in a straight line in five minutes.” The same guard barked.

There was complete silence for a split second before they were rushing around, trying to calm their morning hair, along with their other personal tasks they habitually carried out.

“But what about the rest of us?” A girl still covered in her blanket, about four beds down from you, asked.

Dana, already sitting up and pulling her digits through her electric blue hair spoke up, voice husky from sleep, “All we can do is wait. These might be shifts. Like morning, evening, and night.”

The girl who had spoke nodded, burrowing back down into bed. You nearly did the same, but you stopped yourself at the last moment. You didn’t, should it happen again later that morning, want a repeat of what had happened yesterday just before evaluations. Instead, you leant back against the wall, sighing and dragging your hands across your face sleepily.

It was sometime around six in the morning, you concluded after a brief glance out the window across from your bed. You sat silently as, exactly five minutes later, the guard came in, looking the girls up and down quickly before giving them their orders. He took them off a bit later after his lecture had concluded, and right after another guard came in.

This time it was a female, which was odd, you hadn’t seen any guards that weren’t males beforehand. But, man or woman, she was no gentler than the rest you’d seen. She commanded that you all stand next to your beds, and you did just that, extra careful of the blankets this time around.

After, she walked across the room, scrutinizing each and every one of you. Her eyes made you extremely uneasy, as they glowed with a deep-set kind of power you’d never even imagined could exist.

She was silent as she looked at you all, and she had an air around her that you could tell that she thought that she was better than you all. It pissed you off a bit, to see that haughty look in her eyes, but you refused to confront her about it.

After she paced the length of your group a few times, she stopped in the middle of the room, opening her mouth wide to speak, “You are the ladies who have been left behind for the morning. There will be three rotations, each with a different set of girls. That will be your assignment, to do duties in the morning, afternoon and evening, and lastly, the night shift.”

You all listened quietly, and you kept your eyes on the woman at all times.

“When the first group returns, the next group will be chosen, and those remaining that haven’t been picked yet will be a part of the night staff.”

One girl raised her hand timidly, like she was a small child asking a question of a very intimidating teacher, “Ah… Ma’am, what do we do in these different rotations?”

“The morning prepares and serves breakfast to the king, dresses him, bathes him, anything he might need. Afternoon gives him his second meal, and so on. And night makes sure he has been satisfied during the day and fixes his mood should need be. These will also be the women who will make sure that after he is asleep that the rest of the day is finally wrapped up. The night crew, as you can imagine, is probably the most important. So, you will be Loki’s most favourite women. And your assignment might change depending on how our master feels.”

You blinked slowly, you partially hoped that you wouldn’t be on the night crew, as ‘fixing his mood’ made you think of all sorts of things that you weren’t really confident you wanted to get caught up in. You shivered slightly.

The woman didn’t speak much after that, and she left quite soon, leaving you all to your own devices.

You went over to where Dana sat. “Hey.” You said, folding your legs under you and looking at her.

She gave you a brief smile, pulling her hair over one shoulder, “Morning. You happy we won’t have to get up so early for ‘serving the great overlord’?”

You laughed softly, nodding, “Yeah, but I really hope I don’t make the night team.”

Dana rolled her eyes again, biting her lip, “If I have to put that bastard to bed again I might shoot something. He expected me to take off his armour, and the rest of his clothes!” She scoffed, “I’m just happy that I didn’t have to sleep with him.”

You nodded, “Yeah. Same. It’s a little… Childish that he has to have us undress him. Or it’s some weird power complex.”

“Either way, I hate him even more for it.” She spat, wringing her hands rather viciously. You stopped her; just for fear that she might hurt herself if she continued. She glanced at you slowly, a small sigh breaking through her lips.

“Thanks…”

“You’re welcome.” You nodded slowly, moving your hands to hug yourself. “So, I really don’t know you too well, and I guess we have some time to kill…”

She smirked, “There really isn’t too much to know about me.”

You shrugged, “Where’d you grow up?”

“Arizona. I hated it there, got out as soon as I possibly could. What about you?”

“(Hometown). I just moved here because I’d always liked the sound of living in New York, you know? Alright… What about… Ever been out of the country?”

She nodded, “I went to England for a bit, France, central Europe on my gap year after I graduated high school. I went with my sister.”

“That sounds really fun. So, what did you do before everything… Changed?”

She sighed, “I was a dancer for the New York Ballet. I didn’t work there for very long, probably about five years. I absolutely loved it there, despite it being absolute hell on my body.”

You tilted your head, “What do you mean by that?”

“We worked on a regimen of hours of practice a day, sometimes even going late into the night. And the way I danced, my feet were constantly on fire. Some girls were able to handle it, but I had to constantly take painkillers and put numbing cream on my toes just to keep dancing. But it all paid off. In my mind, at least.”

You nodded, admiring how dedicated she was to her craft. It wasn’t something that you really heard of people doing professionally, unless they were a teacher at a studio or something similar. “That sounds really interesting. You look like you’ve been dancing for a long time.”

She nodded, “Most of my life. And dancing is the way I met the love of my life.”

You smiled, “That’s so sweet!”

She nodded, another sad smile coming to her lips, and again, you didn’t want to ask, if she really wanted to tell you about him, she’d say it herself. Even though you were pretty curious as to whom Dana would love. She didn’t seem the type to love easy, and she seemed like most guys wouldn’t want to try and put up with her.

Dana looked over at you, “I would explain, but it’s a long story, and… It… I don’t like to talk about it anymore, not without him here.”

You nodded, “I understand. You really don’t have to tell me, I don’t mind.”

She smiled, “Thank you.” She sighed slowly, “Alright, you know about me… Sort of, now I want to know about you.”

X

Of course, you’d been lucky enough to get put on the night team. You’d practically punched your mattress out of pure anger when you weren’t called for the afternoon team, knowing that you were now on the dreaded night team.

Well. Shit.

You sulked, for the rest of the time you were free, really, and you could tell that everyone else was pretty surprised at your outburst, since you had been so calm and collected beforehand.

Dana had come to calm you down, but it really didn’t work. She had given up after you just nodded hollowly and refused to answer her.

You knew you were being a brat, but quite frankly, you didn’t care at the moment. Maybe you’d get switched over to another one of the teams. That was all you could hope for at the moment.

When it was time, you shuffled your feet like you were being taken off to get shot in the back alley. Dana stayed next to you as you walked, the other two in your group (the afternoon group had been the biggest, which made sense), walked a head of you. The guards didn’t bother grabbing you by your arms, which was nice, and before letting you go, told you what you each were supposed to do.

They pointed to you and Dana, “You two, you’ll go and get the master ready for bed.”

You grit your teeth, but nodded slowly, narrowing your eyes at the large door that you had been through the previous day.

“You two go tidy up the master’s projects.” They told the other two, pointing them off in the direction of another set of rooms down the long, dizzying hallway. They then sent you and Dana off to Loki’s bedroom.

“Just what I wanted.” Dana muttered sarcastically, taking the lead and moving first into the bedroom.

“My Lord, we’ve been told to help you to bed.” She said formally, letting you stay behind her.

Loki had been busy reading a small book in the corner, and he glanced up, “Just a moment, I’d like to finish this chapter.”

Dana nodded slowly, moving to lean against a wall, you followed, waiting next to her until you heard the soft sounds of a book’s pages rustling as it closed.

He pointed to you, “Ready my clothes, and a quick bath.”

You nodded, going off to do what you had done yesterday exactly. Dana followed soon after with a few towels in her arms, placing them down somewhere before being told to help Loki undress.

You two did your tasks silently, and stepped back just as quietly when you were finished.

Loki looked over at you as he trailed his fingertips across the top of the water’s surface, “That dress fits you much nicer than the last one.”

You nodded slowly, “Yeah... Thank you.”

He smirked, turning back and washing himself. You were thankful that he didn’t call either of you to help with that task again, finishing much quicker than the previous bath he had taken with you present.

You helped dress him this time, leading him off to bed after Dana had readied it for him.

“Now, make sure that my things are tidied up quickly.”

The two of you carried out your order quickly, “Is there anything else you need, My Lord?” You asked quietly, meeting his eyes as he lounged against his pillows.

He was silent for a moment, before shaking his head, “No. Not tonight. You girls impress me, for such savage, idiotic mortals you make very good personal servants.”

Dana spoke up, a bite at her tone, “Oh, I’m glad we didn’t disappoint you.”

Loki smirked, “Ah, there’s that joking tone of yours, Dana. I was waiting for it to spring up.”

“Well, it’ll pop up quite a bit, just as long as my mouth isn’t sewn shut.”

Loki winced visibly, just a brief passing of the emotion across his features, and he spoke like he had experienced his mouth being sewn closed. “Yes, that would be… Rather unfortunate. Although your face is pretty enough without being marred.”

An edge of Dana’s mouth curled up in a nasty look, like she didn’t want the compliment. Well, you knew she didn’t want it.

“Nice you think of me like that.”

Loki chuckled darkly, probably wanting to say something rather rude and demeaning, but holding his tongue to look over at you, “Mmm, cat’s got your tongue?”

You shook your head, “I just don’t have anything to say.”

Again, another deep chuckle, “That’s a rare thing to find.”

You nodded, knowing all too well what he was saying.

Loki lifted his hand, a gentle flick of his wrist, lots like that of a violinist flicking a staccato across expertly played strings, “You may leave, or you can keep me company tonight, should you wish.”

You both shook your heads in complete unison, and Loki sighed softly, “Such a shame. Very well. Be off, the guards will give you something to do.”


	6. Chapter 6

Over the course of the next few days, you saw one girl get thrown out. It was the fourth day of actually working, and that afternoon, right after the morning team had returned and the noon team was taken out, a guard called upon the girl.

Loki had come along as well, which was a strange sight to see him in another place rather than his rooms, which you had grown accustomed to seeing him in, as you were still stuck in the night team. His gaze was rather furious, which scared you, even though the anger was nowhere near directed at you.

His eyes were pure fire, his arms crossed and his stance making him seem ten feet tall. You shivered, backing up to your bed and sitting on it, making yourself as small as possible, not wanting to draw attention to yourself.

He approached the girl, who had a defiant look set on her face, but wavered when Loki drew near her. The whole thing reminded you of a large serpent gliding towards his prey, ready to devour it whole, just barely a twitch of a muscle.

The girl looked at Loki, her eyes narrowing slightly when he spoke, scarily calm, which made you start to shake.

“You dare to defy my direct orders.”

She nodded, “Yes. Because I don’t like you.”

He laughed, motioning around and locking eyes with you for a moment, “Neither does she. Neither does the girl over there. I doubt any of you here fancy me, in fact, I bet you all detest this very place.” He smirked, still looking at you, eyes boring right into your soul. You stared back, not knowing what to do other than look right back. You sighed softly when he looked back at the girl.

“So?”

“So, dear girl, that means you’re in quite a bit of trouble.” He flicked his wrist, the guard hovering behind him coming forward and lugging the girl off, who was starting to thrash in the iron grip. Loki shook his head, watching as the girl was taken away, before swinging his head around to address the rest of you in the room, “Take this as a warning.”

He stated it simply, and after he was finished speaking, he swept out of the door, a phantom gust of wind slamming it shut behind him. Instantly, the room was filled with whispers and inquiries of what the girl had done. Not many really had any idea, only inklings of theories her team had heard her muttering about while they prepared breakfast.

You just sat back against your pillow, staring off out the window and blinking slowly.

X

That night, when you were sent to Loki’s chambers, you were alone, as Dana, who’d become your unofficial, official partner, had been sent off to do something else.

You stepped into Loki’s chambers, alone and still shaking slightly, nervous that Loki would still be fuming. He was, in a sense, but he didn’t really take it out on you. His orders were slightly sharper than they usually were, but you just nodded and did them without uttering a word.

When you were pulling the blankets back over Loki, he stopped you with a word, telling you to sit on the side so he could speak to you.

“I sense your perturbation. Is that because of this morning?”

You nodded slowly, “I’m unused to seeing you like that, my lord…” You spoke softly, glancing up at him carefully.

He tilted his head, “I would get used to it, doe… I’m not often in good moods.”

You nodded quickly, “If I can ask… What will happen to the girl?”

He shrugged slowly, “A punishment, for disobeying, and then she’ll be thrown out. I won’t keep those who aren’t of use to me.”

Again, you nodded.

“Do my actions really frighten you so?” He asked, like he couldn’t believe that you were still so shaky around him.

“Yes, they do…”

He was silent, as if he didn’t really know how to react. It was like when he had outbursts around the people he had grown up around they just ignored him or didn’t care about what he was upset about. You glanced up at him, his brows tilted slightly.

He didn’t speak for a while, and when he did, it was a completely different topic, “I plan on keeping you on this shift. Your docile behaviour is a nice way to close out my day.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

A smirk graced his lips; “I can see it’s become very easy for you to say this to me.”

“It has. It’s the only thing I’ve every addressed you as so it isn’t hard for me to say it.”

He nodded slowly, “That’s good. That pleases me to hear.”

“I’m glad it does, my lord.” You said softly, twitching your fingers and folding them together, hoping that he would send you out soon, as the conversation was growing awkward.

But then, what he asked you next surprised you, “What’s your opinion on me?”

You blinked, your head tilting back to look at him, into his green eyes, which flashed with curiosity. He raised a brow when you were silent for quite a while.

“I…” You started off, not really knowing how to phrase it, still nervous you’d make him angry or that he wouldn’t like your answer, and you’d be sent off to a dungeon or something.

Finally, you sighed, huffing slightly and turning to look right into his eyes. This sudden burst of courage was a mystery to you, you had no idea where it came from, but it filled you with the gall to answer him.

“To be completely honest I wish you had never set foot on this earth, but as I’ve been around you, you aren’t the worst person I’ve ever been around. You’re arrogant and annoying, but I can stand you.”

His eyes brightened with amusement, “How nice. And quite honestly, I wish I had never set foot on this earth either. Your kind is drab and stupid, and it’s a bore ruling them. You’re like ants. Your false senses of organization letting you walk around in lines, but scrambling around witlessly as soon as something disrupts those ‘perfect’ lines of yours.” A hand rose from the mattress to wrap around the curve of your jaw and chin, pulling your face down closer to his.

You blushed terribly, feeling a soft breath ghost across your face, as his eyes bore into yours.

“If I was to kiss you, would you run around witlessly?” He asked quietly, his hand snaking down from your jaw to your throat, clasping to hold you in position but not squeezing. You shook slightly, searching his eyes for any sort of answer.

He looked straight back at you, a smirk plastered right onto his mouth. He leant forward the slightest bit, and you feared he was actually going to kiss you. However, when the very, very, very slightest feeling of his lips meeting yours was felt he released you, sitting back.

Without a thought you stood straight up, completely unaware of what to do with yourself. You took the material of your skirt in your hands, holding it tightly and shifting from foot to foot. From deep in Loki’s chest came rumbling laughter, a hand going to his side as his head was thrown back, eyes squinting shut in pure, utter amusement.

You blushed even harder, this time embarrassment instead of fear. You made an angered noise, something between a growl, yelp, and hiss. This only made him laugh harder, and you turned furiously on your heel, stomping towards the door.

You exited quickly, the sound of his ringing, nearly mocking laughter still at your ears, even through the door, which was nearly as thick as your head.

You grumbled again, cursing him to eternal damnation, walking off in a random direction.

You came across a guard a small bit later, and approached him quickly, “I’ve finished my job assisting the master to bed. What else is there for me?” You snapped, still embarrassed and angry with that bastard who was probably rolling on the floor in his fits of laughter about now.

The guard was surprised at your tone, but led you off in some odd direction, a place where you’d never been before.

Eventually, you came to a library, where he told you that you’d help the girl inside organize the books that Loki had strewn about that day. You nodded slowly, entering, and very happy to see the blue haired girl you’d become quick friends with.

She turned, clearly happy to see you as well, offering you a quick smile before rolling her eyes; “Apparently someone really wanted to find something today.” She motioned to the seemingly endless stacks and literal heaps of books that were strewn about the large, cozy area.

“Is there any sort of way I should put them back?”

She shrugged, “I have no clue. I gave up on the Dewy-decimal as soon as I saw how many there was to put away. And I have no idea what most of these say anyway.” She held up a book, its cover filled with spiky looking symbols that looked more like a combination of Russian and Chinese to you than anything else.

You nodded slowly, picking up a few books and shoving them back on the shelf much more aggressively than you should have.

Dana stopped you about three books later, putting a hand on your shoulder and turning you away from your work, “Hey… What’s gotten into you?”

You huffed, “’Master’ made me an ant.”

The look on Dana’s face was one of utter confusion, “Wait… Explain, please.”

“He implied he was going to kiss me, but at the last moment, he pulled away, and when I didn’t know what to do he started laughing.”

She blinked a few times, as if her brain refused to comprehend what she had just been told.

Before long, she did speak, “That bastard. Was it supposed to be a joke?”

You nodded, “By the way he was laughing, it certainly seemed like one to him.”

Dana clicked her tongue, returning to her job of restacking the books. “That’s seriously fucked. I’d punch him, but I don’t want to end up like Rachel.”

“Rachel?”

“That girl who he yelled at this morning. She slept next to me. Kind of a bitch, but we thought the same way.”

You nodded, but stepped towards her and put a hand on her shoulder, “Just don’t do something like she did, since you two share the same thought about this place.”

She scoffed, looking at you like you were crazy, “(Name), I’m not an idiot. She was an idiot for doing whatever the hell she did. If I had to chose a way to get thrown out of this place, it’d be in the way that would get me the least amount of punishment.”

That really didn’t soothe you, “Alright then…” You sighed softly, turning back to stacking the books back on the shelf once again.

Dana chuckled softly, glancing over at you as she worked, “I know you don’t believe me. But lighten up; I’ll stay as long as I can. I’d hate to find out what they do to the girls who don’t measure up, anyway.”


	7. Chapter 7

After what Loki had done to you the previous night, you didn’t want to go back into his room alone, or even be around him for that matter. But, luckily, Dana was kept with you the next night, and Loki wasn’t in the mood for tricks either.

In other words, he had a headache. You were sort of delighted at the fact he had a headache, actually. It was like some sort of strange, cosmic payback for doing that to you. Which was strange, you’d think the God of Mischief and tricks would be exempt to that sort of thing, but apparently not.

You held back a smirk, your facial muscles straining and hurting every time Loki groaned, as he was getting ready for bed. In fact, you purposefully pulled the shirt off his head in a way that would rustle his hair, which made his pain just a tad bit worse. You hoped he hurt, you really did, that small, sadistic devil in you taking over. A sadistic devil you didn’t even know you had in you.

Loki slid into bed, his eyes wrinkling around the corners, his normally soft and fluffy down pillows seeming harder than rocks when he laid his head down on them.

“Fetch me a nurse, quickly.” He snapped out at Dana, and she nodded quickly, disappearing to go get someone.

Which, unfortunately, left you alone with him. You busied yourself with placing his clothes away, stacking his armour off in a corner just so you didn’t have to face him.

“I can see you are still quite annoyed with me, doe.”

You rolled your eyes, “You don’t say.”

He sighed softly, “Spare me your snide remarks, girl, I do not wish to have my hurt worsened.”

You bit your tongue at a remark that certainly would have gotten you thrown out right on the spot, your head turning to glance at him over your shoulder.

“Well then I apologize.”

He clicked his tongue, “Lies.”

You shrugged, “I wouldn’t have to lie if you didn’t do things like that, my lord.” You said with a bite, your teeth snapping as your mouth closed at the last syllable.

“I will do whatever I damn well please. And bearing animosity towards me in a way that shows clearly upon your face is a surefire way to get you sent down to the dungeons.”

You grit your teeth, “Well being there would be thousands of times an improvement than working in here with you!”

Loki’s face changed several different times in the course of about half a second. It was from shock, anger, and something that reminded you of a strange sort of admiration.

However, it finally landed again on anger, and he was out of the bed and leaning down in front of you in no time.

“You poor, stupid girl. I was honestly starting to think I could actually like you. But you’re just as… Just as disgusting as the rest.”

You glared at him, “Why? Because I can stand up to you, because I don’t subscribe to the thought of you as my king? Well then, if that’s your reasoning, you can go-,” someone coughing, followed by something getting knocked over deliberately, stopped you from finishing your sentence.

Dana appeared near the two of you very quickly, she probably head to climb over the bed to get there as quickly as she did, holding out a purple glass vial.

“Headache medicine! Right here, my lord! Let’s get you to bed! Have to have lots of rest for tomorrow!” She said urgently, sensing that it would have gotten even worse had she not stepped in when she did.

Loki looked at her, his expression changing completely as he laid his eyes on the bottle, ripping it from Dana’s hand and taking the liquid in large gulps, tossing the vial over his shoulder, the sound of glass shattering following close behind.

With the back of his hand he wiped his mouth, pushing past Dana to get back in bed. “Clean that up.” He growled, pulling the blankets over his head to block out the light, “And when you’re finished, get the hell out.”

Dana looked at you, millions of questions swarming in her eyes, moving to go pick up the glass shards, and you followed, nearly stepping on some that had scattered across the polished floor. The two of you worked silently, making sure that every last shard was picked up before leaving.

Once the door was shut behind you, Dana whirled around on her heel, “What in the hell happened while I was gone?”

“I got mad at Loki, and I started to tell him where he could stick it if he didn’t like my anger.”

Dana groaned, “I will literally drop at Loki’s feet and kiss his boots and call him his fucking royal highness for the rest of eternity if he doesn’t throw you out tomorrow.”

You shrugged, “I don’t really care if he decides to have mercy on me. Anything is better than working for that selfish bastard.”

Dana took one of your shoulders, as her other hand was still holding glass, “Shut up! Don’t be so blinded by your hatred for him, that is exactly how Rachel got thrown out. I am not going to let you do something like that.”

“Would you quit it with your ‘let’s stick together’ crap? You’re starting to sound like Captain America.”

For a moment, you saw pure, unadulterated sadness and pain in her eyes, before she blinked and it was gone entirely, “Well at least Captain America didn’t give up what he thought. And I’m not going to either. So cool it! I have no idea what’s getting into you, but it is really not helping. So quit it.”

You really didn’t know why you were so angry anymore, or why you were even going to take it out on Dana, she was only trying to help. But you couldn’t see that, you were just annoyed as hell, “Or what? What are you going to do? Pirouette me in the face?”

She sighed, shaking her head, “No, I’m not going to do anything. Actually, I’m going to go back to bed, and in the morning, I’m going to ask you if you’re doing any better, and if you aren’t, I’ll leave you the hell alone. But if you are, great! We can talk about why you’re so pissed off.”

She turned to leave, without another word, and without waiting for you to say something back. You stood there, clutching broken glass in one of your hands, the other placed firmly at your side, staring at her as she walked away.

You didn’t really know how long you stood there, just blinking in anger and trying not to clutch your fists. You weren’t in the mood to be picking bloody splinters of glass out of your hand for the rest of the night.

In fact, the rest of the night was sort of a blur, and when you woke up in the next morning, it was like you had been completely drunk the night before, since you didn’t remember much after Dana had walked away.

It was mid morning, you saw, and nothing was really happening. It was after the morning team had gone, and it would be several hours before the teams were switched off. You didn’t raise your head from the pillow, just watched, your vision sideways, eyes trailing across the room at the girls who wandered around.

There wasn’t much to do; really, it was just a barren room with some beds at the sides. It was akin to a prison cell, absolutely nothing to do unless you were able you get your hands on a book.

Perhaps, you thought to yourself, you’d ask if you could borrow a book, it would definitely make the hours tick by a little faster instead of dragging on and on.

After a while, you sat up, looking around for Dana. You found her sitting on her bed, staring off into space. You went over to her, biting your lip. You were a little tense from last night, and you weren’t sure if Dana was still mad at you.

You hoped not, she was really the only person you really could talk to in here. Sure, there were other girls, but you just… Felt much more natural than with anyone else.

Maybe it was just because of the way she had spoken to you when you’d very first gotten here.

“Hey…” You started meekly, crossing your arms as you stood next to the side of your bed.

Dana came out of the void, looking at you up and down for a few silent seconds, “I assume you’ve cooled off?”

You nodded, “I… I really didn’t know what I was doing last night.”

She shrugged, patting the bed next to her, motioning for you to sit next to her. You did so slowly, looking at her as she opened her mouth to speak, “I can liken it to you being out of your element. People can become… Disoriented if they’re in a strange place. Like when astronauts go a tad crazy when they’re in space.”

You nodded, “And… Loki drives me crazy.”

“Loki drives everyone crazy. So, I won’t hold it against you, just try and keep your craziness under control.”

“I’ll try. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

She smirked, “It’s okay. And by the way, don’t ever ask me if I’ll pirouette you in the face. It’s quite literally impossible.”

You cringed, “I don’t even remember half of what I said last night. And I know nothing about ballet moves.”

She chuckled softly, “Then just stick with non-ballet centered insults.”

You nodded, “Will do.”

She chuckled softly, shaking her head, pushing your shoulder, “Move, I want to go back to sleep.”

Standing quickly, you watched as she pulled the blanket back over herself, waving at you. You waved back with a small smile on your face, “I’m happy you’re not mad.”

She shook her head, her eyes already closed, “I was never mad, just annoyed. And I try not to hold a grudge if I can help it.”

“Have a nice sleep, Dana.”

She smiled, her eyes still closed, “Thanks, now go away, before I kick you.”

You chuckled softly, moving back and turning to go find something else to do.

However, when the afternoon group was called, you were very surprised when a girl was switched out. She was confused, tilting her head, “But… When am I to work?”

“Tonight.” The guard answered, looking around in the room. At the moment, you were unaware of who he was looking for, until his eyes landed upon you, and he motioned for you to get up, “The king has requested a change in his nightly maids.”

You blinked, a strange feeling coming to your stomach when he motioned you forward to stand with the girls that would be working that afternoon. You had absolutely no idea what you were going to do. You were more accustomed to helping Loki dress for bed than seeing him wander around in the day.

And what about Dana? You were worried for her, being alone, even though you knew that she could definitely handle herself. But still, you wanted a little familiarity in this hellhole, and Dana was the familiarity that you knew.

You craned your head to look for her, but she was still sleeping, and no one bothered to wake her up. You wanted to do it, but you were already being led out the door. You blinked back tears, partially in nervousness, and partially in fear.

Again, you felt that you would lose it, but you swallowed hard, closing your fists tightly, nails digging into your palms. You focused on making your tears disappear from your eyes as you walked, ignoring the attempts that the girls made to try and talk to you. It wasn’t out of rudeness that you did this, but out of concentration on other things.

You were definitely in store for an exciting afternoon, although this kind of excitement was the kind you could definitely deal without.


	8. Chapter 8

Working in the afternoon, you noticed, was something entirely different than working at night. Afternoon worked the longest shift, as they were tasked with serving Loki two meals, as well as attending him to do various things. Half the girls went off to make lunch, and the rest, you included, went off to go tend to what Loki wanted.

You followed in the very back of the two other girls that were leading the way to where Loki was. Again, he was in the library.

You didn’t ask any questions, you didn’t want to speak, and you just wanted to stay in the back and hope that Loki didn’t notice you.

The three of you walked into the library quietly, and you saw Loki at a pedestal in the back of the large, imperial room. He was poring over a stack of large books, and he didn’t look up as your small group stopped near where he stood.

After a while, he glanced up, “Oh, you’re here. Ah, take this stack of books away. Put them anywhere.” He waved you off with a flick of his hand, turning the pages quickly in his book as he looked back down.

You followed them, taking a few books, but they were heavier than you’d thought. Your arms gave out under the weight of the books you held, and they fell to the floor, thumping hollowly across the wooden boards of the floor. You cringed, scrambling to get the books.

But, Loki’s eyes were on you, and you heard a sigh from him, “You just can’t do a thing without drawing attention to yourself.”

You sighed softly, stacking the books back up to pick up the large stack in smaller portions.

You nodded, “Apparently not, my lord. But it doesn’t help that your books are made of stones instead of paper.”

He came around to look at you, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at you. It was strange seeing him here, not being told to help him dress in softer linens for bed.

“Do you know why I replaced you?”

You shook your head, “I don’t. And I’m… Curious as to why.”

He smirked, watching you as you picked up a few books, holding them tightly against yourself, ensuring that you wouldn’t drop them this time. He tilted his head up slightly, looking down the bridge of his nose at you, “I replaced you because I wanted a break from you. Yes, I favor you a small bit higher than the rest of these girls, but my you can be annoying.”

You swallowed, biting back a few curses aimed in his direction, “I guess it can’t be helped. I guess I have to thank you, for not throwing me out.”

He chuckled, more of a dark bit of laughter that made you think he was sharing an inside joke with himself, “Oh, no. I quite enjoy your defiance. It’ll make it much more fun to break you, should I ever decide to.”

You blinked, “Break me?” You didn’t really follow, even though you could sense where it was going.

He smirked, leaning quite close to you, sort of like he had done before, “To turn you into a mindless follower, who’d fall at my feet and kiss my boots if I but simply nodded.” He glanced over you in a way that made your skin crawl, “Among other things.”

You sighed softly, stepping back and turning to try and find a space to put the books, “My king, I think you’d prefer me over a mindless shell.”

“Perhaps.”

You glanced behind you, looking at him quickly before swallowing, “And besides, you’d miss out on getting the chance to trick me.”

He laughed again, darkly, “Oh, I did enjoy that. But did I sense that you wanted my lips upon yours, doe?”

You shook your head violently, “No! Of course not!”

“Oh, I doubt that. I know what a woman looks like when she wants a kiss.”

You sighed, placing the books on a random shelf, “My king, the women you’ve been around probably actually liked you. I don’t, and I’d really hate your lips anywhere close to mine.”

You turned to face him, watching him lean against the pedestal, staring at you with amused eyes. His emerald orbs were practically glowing with a mischievous glint that you could liken to that of a child who had just done something his parents wouldn’t approve of.

“Perhaps I should order you to kiss me.”

You shrugged, “Do what you want.”

“Oh, doe… I already have.”

“I can see that.” You said, ducking past him to put away more books. When you were finished you stood quite awkwardly next to a shelf, feeling Loki watching you.

“It seems the doe doesn’t know what to do.”

You glanced back at him, “The books you told me to put away are put away, and until you give me something to do, I’ll just stand here.”

He nodded, glancing as another maid come in the door to tell him that lunch was ready. He told her he’d be there soon, letting her close the door, looking at you before starting off.

He said over his shoulder, looking at you quickly, “Return to my chambers, doe, and wait there until I come to you.”

You blinked, nodding quickly, your mind whizzing at all the possibilities. Your ideas ranged from innocent to raunchy, and none of them pleased you.

X

You were sitting on one of the various chairs around the room, staring off into space when the doors opened again. You glanced up, seeing Loki entering the room quietly.

You stood out of habit, placing your hands behind your back.

“Ah, good. Like a well trained maid.”

You blinked slowly, “Oh… Thanks. I guess.”

He came over to you, looking down at you with his head tilted so he could meet your eyes. “I can see that you’re wondering why I’m asking you in here alone.”

You nodded slowly.

“I wanted to ask you why you thought it reasonable to talk back to me. In such a terrible tone.”

You shivered softly, “I… I’m out of my element, my king… I lost my temper without a real cause. And I guess I should apologize. So, I’m sorry.”

He raised a brow, “Yes. I guess you are out of your element. However, you will keep your tone under control.” He leaned down and tilted your chin up with two fingers, “And if you don’t, I will not be happy.”

You nodded slowly, “I… I’ll keep my tone under control.” After a few moments of shared silence between the two of you, you added softly, “Will you keep me on this team?”

He nodded, “Yes, I will. However, it might not be for very long. It depends on which girl replaced you.”

“So, this is more or less like a form of punishment?”

He chuckled, “Yes. You could say that, doe. But essentially it comes down to which girls I want.”

“True…” You murmured. “But is that all?”

He shook his head, “I wish to take a bath. I skipped my morning one, and I’m deciding to take one now.”

You nodded, “I’ll start the water.”

You walked off to the bathroom to do so, readying a bath for him quickly, coming out to tell him that it was ready. He came to the bathroom, motioning for you to wait outside. It was strange, that he was telling you to do so. You thought he would have ordered you to strip and get in with him.

However, you didn’t mind, sitting back down and waiting for him. He came out after quite a while, his upper half bare, still dewy with water droplets. You shivered; you never could deal with excess water on you after a shower, since it made you feel frozen.

“Isn’t that cold?” You inquired, tilting your head.

He smirked, “I don’t find much cold. In fact, I rather enjoy it. It’s in my nature, I suppose.”

“Your… Nature?”

“I’m a frost giant. And as you can probably tell, we enjoy cold, frozen things.”

You nodded slowly, “Oh. I… That’s nice. I just thought you were Asgardian. That’s what all the news stations said.”

He laughed, “And again, I am seen as something I’m not.”

“Again? It doesn’t seem like you’ve been…” You trailed off, “Never mind…”

He looked over at you, coming over and placing his hands on either side of the chair and leaning over you. “How do you perceive me? Evil? Tyrannical?”

You nodded, “Yes, actually.”

“Well you’re wrong.”

You blinked, “Ah… Your actions speak differently.”

You could see his jaw clench, and his voice sounded as if he was trying to keep it down, trying to keep out the anger, “You have no idea about anything. My actions, I’m fearing, are not entirely my own. I am made for mischief, not entire bouts of evil.”

You shook your head, “You can change that. Anyone can change how they act if they try hard enough.”

He smirked darkly, “You don’t understand a thing about me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Taken over the world? Forsaken half of America’s population to rot as they run around in total fear? Using those disgusting creatures you brought to control us?”

“This is true. But you don’t know the whole story.”

“Then explain it to me. I want to know.”

He shook his head, “No. I don’t have to explain to you. I was simply airing my grievances. Thinking out loud if you will.”

You gave him a strange look, as to why he was jumping around on the subject so much. You didn’t really understand, but assumed that whatever crazed thoughts he had would just recede after he had some dinner.

“You may leave.” He said after he had stepped away from you, turning and occupying himself with something else.

You nodded, not bothering to say anything as you left the room, turning to a guard and asking what to do next.

X

When you returned, you barely even got to say hello to Dana before she was taken off to do her work. You sighed softly, deciding to wait up, since you were used to staying up a little later. So when she came up you immediately called her over, ushering her into the bathroom so you could talk without having to be completely quiet from the other sleeping girls.

“So what happened today? You… You were switched out? What the hell?” She asked a billion questions at once, looking all over your face.

You shook your head, “He told me it was just a punishment, for talking back… I don’t know if I’ll be put back on night team.”

Dana let her cheeks puff out, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall, “This guy is all over the place.”

You nodded, “Yeah. He really is.” You shook your head, “Its… Its weird.”

She nodded, putting her head back against the wall, “Tomorrow, when I’m working, I’ll try and talk to him.”

You shook your head, “Oh no, you really don’t have to do that! I appreciate the offer, but it’s really okay.”

“No. It isn’t. I know he’s crazy, but I really don’t want you alone with him. Especially with what happened the other day.”

You nodded slowly, “I guess you’re right. And I really hate being alone without somebody I like to talk to.”

She chuckled softly, “I admit it’s a little boring without you there. And the girl they replaced is… She’s got eyes for him. I swear. It’s like he’s just a hot guy walking down the street instead of our evil dictator.” She paused, thinking before her eyes widened, “Oh my God. She never came back with us.”

Your mouth dropped to the floor in that instant. You had to brace yourself against a dressing table near you, covering your mouth with your hand, “No…” You breathed. “That’s… That’s crazy.”

Dana nodded, biting her lip, “But she could just be working a long night…” Her words were more of like a silly hopefulness, rather than something she actually believed.

You swallowed hard, shaking your head and looking down, “Yeah. Maybe.” You excused yourself, going back to sit on your bed and shake your head in utter disbelief. Eventually, you settled down, closing your eyes and sleeping, darkness coming to you the entire night. You didn’t know what to think, really. So, your mind shut it out, giving you a blank, uneventful sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

When you went to work that next afternoon, one question rang forth in your mind. One single question that was clawing at your tongue to be asked, and when your group was called, you nearly ran to where Loki was.

In fact, the first words that spilled out of your mouth formed into the question you needed answered.

“Did you sleep with Erika?”

Loki glanced at you, a strange, almost curious look to his eye. “Excuse you?”

You took another breath, thinking that you had asked too quickly, and that your words had just been a jumbled mess.

“Did you sleep with Erika last night?”

Loki kept looking at you, but a smirk soon graced his lip as he nodded, seeming to be proud with himself. “I did, yes. Why? Were you offering yourself up for tonight?”

You shook your head, “No… Just wondering.”

“Mm. Shame. Either way, I could have you whenever I wanted. It would just be a matter of time, should I decide.”

You shuddered at the imagination that Loki would call you to his bedroom for the sole purpose of doing such a thing. It made you feel uneasy, like he would do it in the near future just to prove his overwhelming possession of power.

“Why?” You finally asked, looking back at him and looking into the emerald orbs that you didn’t trust whatsoever.

He chuckled, “Why not? Is it so wrong of me to take the pleasure so graciously offered to me?”

“You mean you didn’t force her?”

He shook his head, “I didn’t have to. The girl was practically stripping herself down before the blue haired one left.”

“She has a name, you know. It’s Dana.”

He raised an eyebrow, closing the small book that he held in his hand. He moved, leaning against a wall languidly, reminding you of a serpent taking the form of a human. “You sound like you need a lesson in how to hold your tongue.” His threat was calm, casual, as if he was talking about the weather instead of one of the ways he could torture you.

“I thought you liked my wit.”

Loki rolled his eyes, “I find its occasional appearance amusing, yes, but however, your tone is much to biting for me to take lightly. Shall I muzzle you?”

You shook your head, “No. You shouldn’t.”

He chuckled, sliding towards you, as a tiger approaches its wounded prey. “Doe…” He started off with a dark amusement, “You know I won’t actually listen to you. I’d enjoy your silence.” He placed a hand over your mouth, “But perhaps I’ll wait to punish you.”

Your eyes were widened in visible fear, wanting his hand off of your mouth, his cold skin numbing the sensitive skin of your lips. But his hand stayed, as well as his eyes, watching to see what you would do next, but you kept dead still. You didn’t want to risk moving, your heart pounding in your chest.

He must have heard your frantic heart, as a bemused expression took over his emotionless features. He pressed his other hand over your heart, chuckling, “Your heart is weak, my dear. I could consume you very easily. I could make you so you’d never want to leave my side.”

You kept watching him, as his eyes looked at the hand over your heart, which moved to trace the neckline of your dress. Suddenly extremely uncomfortable, you tried to wriggle away from him, his fingertips catching on your dress and allowing him to pull you back towards him. The hand that muzzled you came to rest beside your head, and his face came closer to yours, “You amuse me. I enjoy watching you shiver in fear of me, like an injured, helpless little doe.”

“I’m… Glad you take amusement in my fear, my lord…” You choked out in a whisper, trying not to show how much you wanted to start shaking.

He let you go, your feet automatically stepping back from him, your eyes never leaving his form as you backed down the hall. He chuckled to himself, letting you leave, watching you run off towards the kitchen.

Of course, that interaction was the highlight of your afternoon, as working in the kitchen for the rest of your shift wasn’t fun at all. By the time you got back to your room your feet hurt, your hands were tired of cleaning endless pots and pans, and you just wanted to lay down for a bit.

X  
But, later that evening, when you were bored beyond compare, you decided to go around the room, talking to the other girls. And eventually, all eight of you decided to gather in a circle in the center of the room. Granted, there wasn’t too much space for a true circle, so it looked more like a flattened oval when you were all sitting.

“So, (Your Name), was the rumor true?” The girl sitting to your right, Mona, asked.

“About what, Erika sleeping with Loki? Yeah. Totally true.” You nodded.

The fair-haired girl raised both of her eyebrows, and the rest of the girls started murmuring. You picked up on some disbelieving mutterings, and others who knew it was just a matter of time.

Scarlett, a girl on the morning team spoke up a while later, “I’ll bet the money I don’t have that she’s sleeping with him tonight. Or that blue haired chick’s gonna take the fall. She looks like she’d sleep with him.”

You rolled your eyes, “No way. Dana hates him. When we worked together she would always mutter stuff about him that was pretty astounding.”

Scarlett shrugged, weaving a conspiracy in her head, “She could just be putting on a front.”

You shrugged, deciding not to get into it with the woman.

A while later, while you were all talking about nothing in general, Caitlin, a girl who you’d met in the kitchens earlier decided to speak up, “Hey, so I saw what Loki was doing to you earlier, like, something with your dress.”

You blushed in spite of yourself, “Ah… He was just trying to intimidate me…”

Caitlin smirked, “Didn’t really look like it. Kinda looked like he was getting ready to bang you in that hallway.”

You huffed, making a surprised noise in the back of your throat, shaking your head furiously, “Even when I went through my evaluation and had to take a bath with him I didn’t even take my clothes off! What makes you think we would have done it in the hallway?”

“He doesn’t seem like the type to take no for an answer.”

Well. She wasn’t wrong. You felt that way about Loki as well, and you shivered at the prospect that one say he might not let you go so easily.

And to be honest, that frightened you. It made your stomach churn, your internal nervous butterflies going absolutely crazy. Your hands came together in your lap and started twisting around each other.

Again, Mona spoke up, “I don’t see what’s so bad about sleeping with him, really… Ya know? He’s kinda hot.”

You looked at her a bit like she was crazy, but didn’t say anything. You had a feeling that Mona would be the next girl to sleep with him, if Loki decided she was worth his time.

Of course, you vowed right then and there that you would never do such a thing. Of course, Loki was attractive, yes, you didn’t feel the need to deny that, but his personality turned you off more than everything redeeming about him altogether.

You sighed, leaning back against the bed that was behind you, looking across the group as girls told Mona that she was crazy, and the select one or two that told her that she shouldn’t be ashamed of wanting to sleep with him.

It got to the point where you zoned in and out of the conversation as the topics changed, and none of you really kept track of the time. It got so late, actually, that the night team got back and you were all sitting on the floor, still chattering away.

You looked up at the four girls that came back, noticing that Loki didn’t decide to take a lover tonight. You were kind of happy about that, waving Dana over to you, watching her as she sat next to you.

You turned to her, immediately dismissing the group’s conversation, eager to hear what had happened on her shift.

“So. Is Loki being any more crazy than usual?”

She scoffed, “Define usual, (Name). Tonight he felt like he needed to harass us all, he locked me in the bathroom while he was taking a bath with his strange magic, and told me that I could leave after I solved these ridiculous riddles…” She paused, taking a moment to let a heavy sigh exit her lungs, “I swear it was like a strange scene from The Hobbit. He was Sméagol and I was Bilbo…”

You blinked a few times, “Well, at least he didn’t force you to get in with him.”

Dana nodded, “That’s true. I would have done like you did if he had, get in with my dress on.”

“What else happened?”

“Well, he constantly flirted with Erika, and since she works with me, I had to go about working while he made it seem like he’d screw her while I was still in there. It was disgusting, how much she was trying to get him to keep her for the night.”

You glanced over at Erika, watching as she sat on the bed, looking extremely dejected. You watched her for a few more moments before looking back at Dana, who had joined into the conversation.

“No, I wouldn’t sleep with him. I don’t even think he’s attractive either.” She finished, putting her chin on her hands.

Mona giggled, “Why? You don’t like guys or something?”

Dana rolled her eyes, “No, I do like guys. I just don’t like guys like him. I wouldn’t screw a guy I didn’t love, much less like.”

Mona shrugged, deciding to give up since Dana’s tone told her even more clearly that she wasn’t going to argue about it. Dana glanced at you and mouthed, “She wants to sleep with him, and it’s driving me crazy.”

You nodded slowly, leaning over and whispering, “She was telling us earlier about how attractive she found him… It’s like she doesn’t care.”

Dana shook her head, sighing softly, “Some girls don’t. That’s why guys even as terrible as Loki always have girls that would drop their pants the second he told her to.”

X

The next few days were uneventful, and you started to feel like you were in a terrible circle of wake up, work, and come back to the room, staring at the wall until you decided that it was time to go to sleep.

But, one afternoon, Loki was late to lunch, leaving you and your partner that day, Vanessa, standing around in the large, ornate dining room. You two looked at each other in confusion, and the guards in the room seemed to be a little taken aback at Loki not coming to lunch. Usually, he came rather quickly, so he could tease the girls about making the food he ate, and weighing them down with work as he called other guards to help him finish the massive amounts of food he had you make. He did it so he could chuckle at all of you, teetering with the weight of the plate stacks you carried to the kitchens to clean.

Vanessa came over to you, opening her arms in question, “Where the hell is he?”

You shrugged, “Hell if I know…”

Vanessa sighed, looking at the food the two of you, along with Caitlin, put out on the table for him. She opened her mouth to speak, but barely had time to utter a word before Loki came in, the doors opening wide for him. He waltzed in; a devilish smirk on your face that told you that he had just done something. He reminded you of a sly little kid who denied everything even though he knew what he had really done.

He sat down, leaning back and letting out a breath, chuckling softly to himself as Mona came running in, her face flushed and her hair looking like a tornado had ripped through it. You grit your teeth, your hands squeezing the ornately carved wood backing of the chairs so hard you were convinced they’d splinter.

Not again… Your thoughts hissed, watching as Mona fanned herself with a hand, her eyes nearly emitting hearts as she gazed at him.

Loki looked over at her, waving her over and pulling her down into a deep kiss before letting her go, “Clean yourself up…” He murmured to her, watching her turn before looking back at you and Vanessa. He stretched like a cat in his chair, chuckling softly, “The two of you look like I entered with the head of a horse.”

Vanessa sighed softly, “It’s just… We didn’t think you’d do that in the middle of the day.”

Loki shrugged, a laugh coming from him, loud and booming, “I decided to give the girl hope before I threw her out tonight.”

You blinked, leaning forward and exclaiming, “That’s terrible! Why would you do such a thing?”

His eyes were filled with amusement, the rich emerald colour nearly shining with absolute radiance, “I’m doing it because it’s funny.”

You blinked, swallowing hard, forcing yourself not to talk back, just nodding stiffly as you sat a plate in front of him, watching as Vanessa served him. You stared at him as you stood there idly, wishing your stare could burn holes into him. You shook your head slowly, sighing softly as you hear Mona eagerly rushing back to the room, giggling when she saw Loki.

You walked over to her, taking her arm and holding her where she was, “Hey…”

She smiled at you, exuding happiness, “Hey! How are you?”

You faked a small smile, “Fine… I don’t have to bother asking how you are… But I have to tell you something.”

Apparently you hadn’t spoken too quietly, and Loki called you over quickly, and you had no choice but to go to him, standing next to him, “Yes, my lord?”

He pulled your face down, hissing into your ear, “Do not tell her of her fate. If you do, she will not be the only one thrown out tonight.”

You nodded, “Of course… I’m sorry, my lord. I won’t do it again.”

His smile made you want to throw up, “Good girl. You’re learning.”

You nodded, “Yes… I think I am. I might as well act like you want me to, that’s the easiest way to get on here.”

He nodded, “Yes it is.”

You stood back up straight, putting your hands behind your back and sighing softly, “May I get you anything?”

He shook his head, “No. But I will tell you this, doe, if you keep this behaviour up, I will put you back on the night team, with your blue haired friend.”

You blinked at his way of referring to Dana, like he just did it to try and get a rise out of you, but, you forced a smile, “My lord, that makes me extremely happy.” And you weren’t lying; your tone was just sweetened to a degree that made you want to gag a little bit.

Loki waved you away after a while, deciding that he was finished with your presence, sending you away to stand with Mona, hearing her babbling on and on about what she had just done with Loki.

Almost immediately you zoned out, giving a few nods here and there when she wanted you to react, watching the back of Loki’s head as preformed his usual mischief, ducking in to help when Caitlin and Vanessa gave you glares as they took plates and finished dishes away.


	10. Chapter 10

That next morning, you were awakened by the sound of screaming. Not pained screaming, just crazed, panicked screams. The moment you realised what was going on, you shivered, opening your eyes to see Mona kicking at the guards as they tried to take her away.

She fired out insults at them, her head spinning and twisting every which way to hurl her insults at them. When she saw Loki, who stood at the door, leaning against the wall closest to it casually, she screamed even harder, hurling words in a language that you couldn’t understand. You cringed, pulling the blankets up to your shoulders once again. When Loki looked at you, you two stared at each other for longer than normal. You held the expression of horror, whereas Loki held the expression that told a wonderful joke had gone perfectly as planned.

Everyone in the room was now awake, not a word heard from anyone other than Mona, who was now about halfway down the hall, her screams now echoing, as she get even more desperate. Loki remained in the room, his arms crossed at his chest.

It seemed like an eternity before the silence was broken again. A guard had come back in, speaking to Loki quietly. From where you were, you couldn’t hear the words from how softly they were spoken.

When the guard was done addressing Loki, he turned to the girls, “Morning shift. Get up and report to your stations.”

Like clockwork, the girls got up and readied themselves quickly, heading out the door, ducking their heads when they walked past Loki. He chuckled at their shyness, rolling his eyes and watching them as they walked down the hall.

But he still stood there, not moving, just standing there and looking over the remaining lot of girls in the room. It was like he was a farmer trying to pick out the best pig to slaughter for breakfast.

You shivered again when his eyes remained on you for longer than normal, and you realised how much of a mess you probably were. Your hands instantly came to comb through your hair, fixing your dress as well, once you realised where the neckline had come down to. You saw a smirk come to his lips, and you looked down at your blanket, picking at the fibers that suddenly seemed very interesting to you.

You heard his chuckle, before he motioned with his hand for you to stand up. “Come to me, doe. I wish to have a private talk with you.”

You obeyed even though your insides turned to mush, biting the inside of your cheek and walking with him. He walked very quickly, your shorter legs having to work twice as hard to keep up with the long strides that he took.

He glanced at you, as you were nearly jogging next to him, an emotionless expression acting like a mask over his face. He watched you for a moment longer, before turning his eyes back to the hall in front of him.

“If I may ask, where are we going?”

He clicked his tongue, “I’m not sure. I did not decide on a destination. I just planned on speaking with you.”

You sighed, hating the fact that you would still have to keep up your struggle of matching his pace so you wouldn’t get too far behind. “Okay… What is it you wanted to speak to me about, my lord?”

He was silent for a few moments, before he spoke again, this time his voice entirely business-like, not in his usual cocky tone. “When do you think I will have a team of personal maids I am not constantly throwing out?”

You shrugged, trying to be at least somewhat helpful so he wouldn’t yell at you, “I don’t know, I guess it’s just when you know you’re happy with the ones that you have.”

He nodded slowly, “Yes… I believe you’re correct in that sense. I would enjoy keeping you on that team, should it be possible.” He spared a small glance at you, before looking back as to where he was heading.

You couldn’t help but let a small blush rise to your cheeks. You didn’t know why it happened, though. Perhaps it was in a tone that actually seemed somewhat sincere rather than the mocking, sarcastic lilt he always had in his voice.

“Oh… That would be… Nice, I guess.” You said lamely, biting your tongue and making yourself shut up to keep from saying something else even more stupid.

 

Loki’s POV

It was after midnight, the moon dominating the black, starless sky. Its radiant beams shone across the landscape that I looked at as I lounged on the balcony. I leaned back against the long, narrow couch adorned with many fur pillows, a warm embrace on the chilly night. My hands were propped behind my head, enjoying the sweet solitude and quiet out here on the large balcony.

Oh, how some things never changed.

But, when I closed my eyes, wanting the light of the moon to cascade upon my eyelids and cast shadows across my darkened vision, another thing came to me.

It was blackness. Utter, infinite blackness.

I felt as if I was falling, at first, a familiar feeling in my stomach telling me so. But, then it stopped, and my body felt as if it were supported by something solid. Again, I felt another feeling inside of my abdomen. A tense, defensive feeling that made my hairs stand on end and my hands start to twitch.

A shapeless form that was as black as the darkness around me approached me. Despite my eyes not seeing the creature, I felt its presence, the ominous feeling that it brought towards my skin, and a chilled feeling that was beyond unpleasant.

It made my skin itch. I wanted to open my eyes, but it was as if they were sewn shut, my eyes frantically sprinting around, trying to find something else to focus on.

But the creature was engulfing me. Everywhere I looked it was there.

When I was nearly mad from the creature’s nearness, it drew away from me. It spoke to me then, its amorphous form bending and twisting in the darkness around it.

“The Master of All has sent a message.”

“What? What is it?” I hear myself say, my lips feeling more like lead than flesh.

“He is angry. He asks why you waste your time with Midgardian maids. You are supposed to be focusing on his domain.”

I sneered at the words ‘his domain’. I had fought for this realm, nearly beaten to death by a team of freakish outcasts, and had led the army I had been given into a glorious victory. It was not his domain. It was mine .

When I did not answer the darkness encroached upon me again, and it took everything that I had not to lash out at the creature. It hissed and spit at me, shrieking as if it were angry beyond compare, “Obey your masters, Jotun! Or you will see everything that you love crushed and destroyed before your eyes!”

With that, it receded, and I was able to open my eyes again. Suddenly, the moon seemed too bright, its rays too white and pure for me to see. I ran inside, slamming the large door to the balcony open, shattering some of the glass panes as the door collided with the wall. I gasped softly, forcing myself into bed.

Then, a voice as soft and gentle as a feather came from behind me, the voice of (Name).

“My lord… What’s the matter?” She asked softly, obviously trying to be gentle and not to provoke me.

I sat up, motioning my hand over in the direction of the door lazily, my other hand placed firmly over my eyes. “Close the shades, the light is annoying me.”

She nodded, without another word, until a gasp came from her. I glanced up, the room now dark, save for the few candles that had been lit in the room so the maids would still be able to see as they finished their work.

“What is it now?” I asked, a small hint of annoyance in my tone.

When (Name) spoke again it was laced with pain, and I could feel a brow raise as she lifted up a foot, “Glass… I stepped on some, I wasn’t being careful enough…”

I shook my head, pushing off of the bed and coming to her. I picked her up swiftly, carrying her to a chair and lifting the bloody foot up. I called for a maid to bring a damp cloth and to fetch a nurse. She did so quickly, pressing the cool cloth into my hand before running off to find a nurse.

(Name) looked at me, leaning forward to see what I was doing. Without a word, I raised my right hand, waving it elegantly, and murmuring a few simple incantations. The glass came out cleanly, the red, glimmering shards floating in the air as they were held up by my magic. (Name) took in a small breath as she looked at the shards that were once in her foot.

I smirked at her, chuckling softly, “Mmm, doe, you must learn to be more careful. Glass is not supposed to be stuck in feet.”

She sighed softly, a small, surprised yelp coming from her before she could speak. I dragged the damp cloth down her small foot, wiping off the blood that had accumulated. The maid I had sent off came back quickly, a nurse at her side. The nurse, another Asgardian like myself, came and preformed special healing spells on the foot, healing the small cuts that (Name) had on the bottom of her foot and ridding the pain she felt immediately.

(Name) gave the nurse an astounded look, exclaiming many surprised thank you’s as the nurse looked at the shards still suspended in the air, closing her fist around them and making them into nothing more than dust, which she tossed towards the door, where it was carried away by a phantom breeze.

I looked back at (Name) standing back up from the kneeling position that I was in, handing the blood soaked rag to the nurse for her to discard. Even though the blood could be cleaned with magic, I still didn’t like the fact that a girl’s blood had been on it previously, even if there was absolutely no trace left.

After dismissing both the extra maid and the nurse, I sauntered back to my bed, stripping my shirt off and lying languidly across the sheets, propped up mostly by pillows. I could tell by the blush that (Name) held that I was in a position that she found quite… Flustering.

I chuckled softly, “If you would like to join me, you may. Although that dress will certainly have to go.”

She clicked her tongue, standing before crossing her arms over her chest, “No. The dress will stay on.”

I shrugged, continuing to tease her, “Oh, if that’s what you wish. But come, the night is already halfway through.”

She made a noise in the back of her throat, rolling her eyes. “I’m not getting in the bed. If you need something, I’ll gladly give it to you.”

“Well then. I’ll need you.”

“You know what I meant!”

I chuckled, sitting up and crawling towards the end of the bed, “Oh, did I? Because I’m not sure if I did, you left out the part where it was everything except your body that I desired.”

She sighed softly, coming towards me and shaking her head, “My lord… You’ve had a busy day, and you’ll have to hold court tomorrow. You’ll want your rest.”

I growled softly, sliding back to the pillows, watching as she moved the blankets to drape over me. I watched her do her work, catching her hand before she pulled away, “Are you pleased?”

She looked up at my, her eyebrows forming together in question, “Pleased?”

“About your shift.”

“Oh.” She stated simply before nodding quickly, “Very. I find it much more relaxing to work at night… Although…” She stopped to yawn, “I’m afraid I’ll have to get used to staying up this late again.”

Again, a smirk and a prod at her demeanor, “I can help with that.”

She sighed softly, “Only if you managed to make me fall in love with you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you’d like to play that game now?”

She shook her head, “It was only hypothetical. I’m your maid, I doubt you’d ever let yourself fall for a Midgardian anyway.”

I shrugged, “The game is not for me to fall for you, is it? No… It’s just to make your heart tremble for me.”

She blinked, “I… Wouldn’t let myself love you unless you loved me too. I’m not interested in making my life a bad romance novel.”

I blinked slowly; unaware of why she was referencing such things. I shrugged it off however, pulling her further, making her lean over the bed so her face was closer to mine and murmuring, “However, I have heard that Midgardians have a hard time controlling their hearts. How could you say that you were any different? Should I seduce you, you wouldn’t have the wit to tear your feelings from me.”

She sighed softly, “Maybe. But I don’t think it’ll happen in the first place.”

“I would doubt that. Your kind is a fickle sort. You don’t really know what you want until you have it or it’s so far out of your reach that it becomes unattainable.”

Again, another sigh came from her lips, followed by a suppressed yawn. “Yeah… I know. But I’m not playing a game with you!” She finished off strong, as if her fatigue was finally getting to her, and she just wanted to leave so she could fall asleep in her own bed.

I let her go because of this, not wanting a cranky maid to sully my mood just before bed. I sent her off with a flick of the wrist, as I always did. She blew out the few remaining candles on her way out, leaving the room in a comfortable darkness.

I closed my eyes, a wide, mischievous smile splitting my lips completely.

Oh, but (Name), I sense that the game has already begun.


	11. Chapter 11

Loki’s POV

Holding court was one of the more annoying things of being king, I knew. Sitting there, at the head of the room upon my gilded throne, watching the steady stream of mortals come through made my muscles twitch. When they spoke it was like knives grating against my eardrums, their senseless problems making me wonder what processes, if any, their brains ran.

 

At least the dread was lessened when I saw (Name) enter through the doors on the side of the room. I smirked, waving her over. She came quickly, probably thinking I had a task for her. I didn’t, I just wanted to mutter snide remarks to her as the subjects below me were talking. I motioned for her to sit on the edge of the throne, her eyes widening after realizing that I was actually serious. I looked at her, with an eyebrow perked.

“Are you not going to obey me?”

She shook her head, immediately taking a seat on the arm of the throne, shifting on the uncomfortable edge.

I smirked, “I can of course give you another, more comfortable seat, should you desire.”

She noticed my less-than-entirely subtle suggestiveness, shooting a pointed look at me and stilling herself. “No, thank you, my lord. I’m perfectly comfortable right here.”

I chuckled softly, leaning back, placing a hand against my lips and only half listening to the human that was still rambling on and on in front of me. I rolled my eyes, letting the senseless tripe go on for a few more minutes before interrupting her.

“It seems as if you can’t process that this problem is something that can be solved upon your own accord. You’re really coming to be about rats? Gather some poisons and litter them around your house. Come, I know more about this and I was resident to Asgard.”

The human blinked a few times, before realizing that he was definitely past his welcome, nodding, throwing in a strangely awkward bow and rushing out the door.

(Name) glanced down at me, a brow raised in curiosity. I muttered to her, barely even listening as the small, frail woman introduced herself.

“It is not my duty to listen to complaints about rats. Much less even listen to their petty problems.”

She sighed, “Well, master, you might not want to listen to rats, but the fire in the city seems important.”

I sighed softly, turning my attention back to the woman, whom, on second notice, looked as if she had just bathed in ash. She had a few linen wraps around her arms, which I assumed were burns.

She continued talking, reassured that she held my attention, describing the fire that had burned down many apartment buildings and a few important stores. When she finished I sighed slowly, “I will start a small building project in that section of the city, but until then I will have the guards advise those whose homes were burnt down to find sanctuary elsewhere. I don’t want to see wanders in that section of the city.”

The woman smiled, nodding quickly, “Thank you, my king! I will spread the news quickly!” She offered many hasty bows, excusing herself and rushing out the door. I noticed that (Name) was looking down at me, and when I glanced at her; a small smile was placed on her lips.

“That was kind of you.”

I waved my hand, “It was simply to keep a mob of peons from coming to my door demanding sanctuary here. Although I bet I’ll still get those who ‘don’t have ones to go to’.” I put my hand against my forehead and sighed heavily.

She shrugged, “Still, it’s better than forsaking that section of the city.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Are Midgardians really so obsessed over simple acts of charity? No wonder you’re all such a simple minded race.”

She sighed, “I’m going to ignore that comment, and just pretend you said something nice about us.”

A short laugh came from me, “As you wish. But I still did it for nothing more than avoiding a problem later on. I don’t wish to have to deal with you peasants more than I absolutely have to.”

“Don’t we all…” She said softly. I smirked; finally, she had something that I could actually connect with! Rather than those patronizing critiques that she usually spouted about my behaviour.

With (Name) next to my side, I was able to get through the court much easier than I originally thought that I would be able to. When the least few peasants filtered out the door, I leaned heavily against the throne, my head thrown back in an expression of utter forsaken will.

(Name) rose an eyebrow. “Would you like a bath?”

My head lifted up at the question, an eyebrow lifting rather high. “A bath?”

She nodded, “Yes. Whenever I’ve had a stressful day, I would either take a really hot shower or a bath. Not really to clean myself, but just to stand there and let the water undo all of the strain that was put on me.”

I nodded slowly, “Ah… I understand what you’re speaking of. And yes, prepare my bath.”

She nodded, walking off ahead of me. I smirked, getting up slowly to follow her. I watched her skirt swish back and forth as she walked, letting my eyes sink lower to her backside. I smirked, she had a rather nice body, and I found it unfortunate I wasn’t willing to force her into my bed for my own pleasure.

I was much more used to willing partners. Forcing them seemed disingenuous. I sighed slowly, walking behind her and watching her as she started her ministrations on the bath.

“You know it would get you quite a bit of favour if you joined me.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

I nodded, “It would.”

She shrugged, “Well, how can I trust you when the last time someone got intimate with you, you kicked her out the next morning. I think I’ll keep my clothes on.”

I smirked, “Like the first day you were here?”

She nodded, “Exactly. If I even get in, of course.”

I chuckled, “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.”

Her brow rose again, and she laughed slightly, “Oh, that I am. But I’m still not getting in with you. Sorry.”

She finished drawing up the bath, making sure that it was neither too hot nor too cold, avoiding my eyes as she assisted me with the removal of my armour, not bothering to look at me as I made my way into the deep pool.

She moved to sit on the side of the bath, however, wetting a cloth and rubbing a sweet smelling soap into the fabric. She shifted closer to me, and in an instant, she was in the pool. I chuckled, my hand around her wrist.

When her head came up from the water and she recovered from sputtering and wriggling around in utter shock, she glared at me, gasping and opening her mouth as if to speak.

I smirked, “Nice of you to finally join me, doe.”

She bit her lip, and I could see her struggling not to spout out expletives. I chuckled softly, hearing her sigh. She shook her head, deciding that it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and get out, since she would most likely slip on the slick floor, and getting so much water on my floor wouldn’t make me too happy.

She sat up, moving so that she wasn’t in such a strange position, and making sure that her skirt was in a place that wouldn’t reveal too much skin. I nearly rolled my eyes at her modesty, but instead settled on a pleased smirk.

She huffed softly, brushing her hair from her eyes, “My lord, you could have just told me to get into the bath.”

I chuckled, shrugging slowly, “But is that really fun? I thought it wouldn’t be. And besides, I wanted to see your reaction. That face you made when you hit the water was one to behold.”

With a shake of her head, she picked up the cloth she had held before, moving closer to drag the soft material across me. I made a few suggestive faces at her, which was met with a stone expression.

“Oh, no fun…” I pouted, “At least play along, doe.”

She looked at me, shaking her head slowly, “If I play along, you might actually take me seriously.”

I scoffed, “Nonsense, I can tell when a woman is truly willing.”

“Well, then.” She said simply, continuing to run the cloth across the skin that was above the water. I quite enjoyed her hands roaming against my chest, her touch was gentle, and I had to admit I missed the soft caresses of a woman.

With an interest in her ministrations, my eyes kept watch over her as she ran the cloth down my arms and over my collarbone. Grabbing a small bowl and filling it with water, she started pouring it over me without a word in my direction.

She pulled away from me after a while, looking right into my eyes waiting for me to give her direction.

“You’re so obedient.”

She gave me a slightly strange look, “Oh… Thank you?”

“You’re welcome. Now… Finish your task. Wash my hair, then you may assist me with drying off.”

With a quick nod, she went about getting the soap to wash my hair with, coming back, her hands running across my hair as she wet it, combing out the raven black strands with gentle hands.

I closed my eyes, relaxing as her hands trailed through my locks, lathering them with soap and rinsing it clean. In fact, her hands were so relaxing I felt myself nodding off without much trouble. But when her hands pushed my head back up so I sat up straight, I grumbled.

So much for relaxing.

With another prompt from her, she drained the water from the tub; ringing out her dress so that it was nothing more than thin, damp cloth clinging slightly to her legs as she tried to get out from the bath. I watched her with an amused expression, the skirt not open enough to let her legs move too freely.

When she finally was able to fetch a towel, she came back over, holding it out so that I could take it. I did, drying off, purposefully holding her gaze. I could see her resolve cracking as she started to squirm slightly from holding such intimate contact.

“Isn’t it so much more fun to look than touch?” I joked, watching her expression go from slightly uncomfortable to annoyed.

“Totally.” She deadpanned.

I laughed, ordering her to fetch my armour, which she did quietly, helping me put it on much like she had when she was taking it off.

“That was quite relaxing, doe. I appreciate you giving such good advice.”

She nodded curtly, “You’re welcome. Is there anything else you need or may I go?”

“You may leave.”

She nodded, taking her leave rather happily, as I could see a gait in her step. It might have just been that her shift was over, and she could sleep up for the next shift, but I wasn’t entirely sure.

Rather, it stung in a way it shouldn’t have. Faintly, though, I could barely feel it, but it wasn’t nonexistent.


	12. Chapter 12

"Tell me a story."

Loki's sudden command was so out of place in that moment, it made you stop in your place.

You turned, awkwardly holding his day clothes in your arms, your head moving to tilt in spite of yourself.

"I... A story, my King?"

He nodded very slowly, his eyes watching you critically, those emerald eyes of his never failing to make a very strange part of you start to wonder exactly what was going on behind such enchanting eyes.

"Yes. A story. Perhaps you are familiar?" He added with a very small jab in your direction. He was lying languidly across the bed, a hand propping his head up so that he could look at you. You sighed softly, deciding that sarcasm wouldn't be the best choice in this situation.  
You were never completely sure how Loki would react, even after you'd been with him for over two months now.

You had gained his confidence again, and he allowed you back on the night shift along with Dana. However, she had caught a cold, and you were flying solo.

You were both glad Loki was at least civil enough to let Dana rest until she was better, and a little frustrated that Dana wouldn't be able to take over for you.

How in the world were you supposed to tell a bedtime story to Loki? Not only were you unsure about this entire situation, but you doubted the simple children's stories would suffice.  
So, with a hesitant nod and a small smirk you decided to tell him a story that you had memorized long ago, when in fifth grade you had told stories to kindergarten children.

You took a breath, opening your mouth to start your story.

"Once upon A long time ago, there were people who would go out into the woods specifically to find new and strange plants, and animals. These people were referred to as 'ologists, such as Zoologists, who study animals. When these people found something new, never discovered before, it was up to them to give it a name.

"Well, one day one of these people discovered an animal that looked like a yellow cat with spots, but was 4 times the size that of the common dog. It was noticed that this animal was very fast, and could jump over large obstacles in a single bound, and therefore was named the leap-hard, today called the Leopard.

“Well one day, the leap-hard was chasing some prey he planned to make his dinner, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he was passed by another cat doing 70 miles per hour! The leap-hard stopped in his tracks, looked around him, and said, "Cheater"! And the 'ologist then named the fast cat, the cheetah! The End."

The look on Loki's face was absolutely priceless. It was hilarious, the look of profound confusion he gave you. It was so much so that you doubled over in a fit of giggles, unable to maintain your calm and collected demeanor.

Loki was completely silent for a few minutes, and you assumed that he had gone catatonic from his complete silence. When you recovered from your bout of giggles, Loki was still staring at you, his mouth wide with astonishment.

You bit your lip, laughing as you spoke, “What’s wrong, my King, cat got your tongue?”

“I…” He started after a few more complete moments of silence from him, “Is this what Midgardian children are told as stories?”

You nodded, your stomach muscles sore from the intensity of your giggling. Your cheek muscles were in the same position, starting to ache from all the smiling that you were doing. However hard you tried, your lips always curled back up into a smile that bordered on stupid from how amused you were at the silly little story.

Loki took in a deep breath, his lids closing as he let his head back against the pillows and letting out a small groan, “No wonder this realm was so easy to take over…”

You rolled your eyes; of course Loki would go as to insult the human race over a silly bedtime story. However, you wandered closer to him, sitting on the edge of the bed near his knees.

You knew that this position was dangerous, allowing yourself to be relaxed enough to sit on his bed, much less with the small of your back being close enough to make contact with his legs. Your head craned to look at him, watching as he looked back up at you, his emerald eyes flashing in the flickering candlelight.

His eyes were so pretty, you could nearly get lost in those deep pools. You forced yourself to look away, biting your lip and fiddling with the thin fabric of your dress. You had gotten a new colour a few weeks prior, as Loki had decided that girls of different shifts should have differently coloured slips.

You felt more like you were being classified into a different sort of prison cell. You had overheard Loki talking to a few others in the antechamber to his room when you were tidying up a few nights before.

They were talking about how they were going to move the girls to different rooms, as Loki was going to start narrowing down the numbers of the girls who didn’t quite measure up and replace them with new girls. You had shuddered at the fact, for a few moments wondering if you were going to be thrown out of the castle to who knows what… But, then you remembered that you knew Loki liked you better than most girls, but what about Dana? Sometimes Loki and her still got into tiffs, bickering at each other with a fiery passion in their eyes.

You had often had to separate them, fearing that one of them might try and take a swing at the other if it went far enough. You sighed at this, shaking your head and drawing Loki’s attention.

“Something on your mind, doe?” He purred, sitting up further and moving closer to take your chin with two fingers, tilting your head towards yours.

You blinked a few times, becoming suddenly uneasy at the close proximity between the two of you. However, even though you wanted to slide away from him, there was a look in his eyes that told you that if you moved further away, he wouldn’t be happy.

So, with a heavy swallow, you stayed there, trying to look at him as best you could, not wanting to risk looking back into his eyes again for more than a few seconds at most.

In fact, you were so caught up in avoiding his direct gaze, you ignored Loki’s question. This annoyed him a little, and made him force your chin up a bit more to get your attention, a brow perking at you and his eyes glittering with the very smallest hints of annoyance.

“Oh! I’m sorry, my king… There is something on my mind, which is cause for my distraction.” You managed to bring a small blush to your cheeks out of embarrassment. This managed to amuse Loki, and he gave a small chuckle.

“Would that be because of my eyes, doe? I’ve noticed you’ve been lingering on them longer than you used to.”

With a small sigh, you decided not to lie, nodding slowly, “Yes… But only because I’ve never seen such a colour, they’re very pretty.”

He gave you a small, fleeting smile that you only supposed was to serve as a small, unsaid thank you. “You really think so? Not many would describe my eyes as pretty. Mysterious and guarded, perhaps, but never pretty.”

You shrugged, giving him a sweet smile, “I mean the colour. I could tell you a bunch of different things about what I see in your eyes.”

Instantly, Loki’s interest was peaked, and you almost regretted telling him immediately after you saw the flash of intrigue in his irises. You wondered if it was really so easy to see the emotions flickering through his eyes. You knew that the other girls always saw nothing but a cruel sort of mischief whenever they looked at him, even when they knew that he was amused or in some other type of good mood.

Or was Loki letting down his guard around you and letting you see deeper into that twisted soul of his?

Psh, yeah right, Loki wouldn’t let his guard down for you. Why in the world would he let you read his emotions so clearly?

That’s because he wouldn’t. You were just able to see things go through his eyes when you were actually paying attention.

“Well… I can see your emotions pass through your eyes… And how sometimes they get dark when you’re losing your patience or your temper, and how they get light when you’re relaxing, like in the bath…” You looked down at your lap, playing with the slightly stretchy black fabric of your dress.

Loki chuckled, “Can you now?” He mused quietly, more like he was talking to himself than really posing a question to be answered. Just to be safe, you nodded slowly, sparing a quick glance up at him.

“I have only met a handful of people who can do that… Frigga, Sigyn, and my daughter, Hela…”

You tilted your head, surprised at hearing these names. Of course, in a very brief period in high school, you had studied the very basics of Norse myth. Frigga, Odin, Thor, and Loki were the ones you were all mainly taught about. When you heard Sigyn and Hela, you had no idea who they were. You didn’t even know Loki had a child!

“Several children, actually, not just one, doe.” He chuckled softly, watching your eyes widen in surprise before he continued, “I fathered Hela, Fenrir, Jörmungandir, Narfi, Vali…” He paused to chuckle softly, as if he was reliving some strange experience, “And I mothered Sleipnir.”

With that last little part about Sleipnir, you couldn’t help but shoot back in utter surprise, looking him up and down like he had just sprouted a pig’s head in the center of his stomach.

This time, it was Loki’s turn to double over in loud, whooping laughs that echoed around the room, as if there were several clones of Loki around the world.

“You… You... Can’t, I, you’re a guy! It doesn’t work like that!”

This only made him laugh harder, leaving you in complete bewilderment, when he slowed to only a few chuckles placed here and there, he spoke, amusement extremely evident in his voice.

“I think it would be easier if I just showed you…” He smirked, flicking his wrist. Suddenly, a veil of shimmering light cascaded around his form, covering him with light. As the light started to dissipate, you noticed that Loki’s hair had grown longer and silkier (if that was even possible, of course. You were nearly convinced Loki’s hair was made from silk strands), curling elegantly down his narrowing shoulders.

Loki’s chest shifted from being flat, all hard lines and muscle, to being rounded and smooth, and you could see that the muscles were still there of course, but they were much less prominent. His arms and legs shortened only a few inches, his legs and calves becoming much more curvy, his hips widening just a bit more, giving Loki a perfectly shaped hourglass figure.

You blinked as the last of the shimmering light went away, leaving Loki in a female form. Loki’s face was beautiful, the contour of her features was absolutely stunning in every way. You were becoming jealous, just a little bit. How was it that Loki made such a good woman? It was like he had spent years looking at the women who were voted most beautiful, and sculpted her facial features from the most beautiful parts of all of them.

Loki’s eyes glittered as they looked at you. “Do you like what you see, doe?” Loki’s voice was husky, a deep and resonating alto. It made you think of melted dark chocolate, smooth and warm, but bittersweet.

You blinked a couple of times, looking her over, more for the sake of comprehending that Loki was now sitting in front of you as a woman rather than the man you had seen just minutes before.

You wondered if Loki could turn into anything else, like a dog, or a cat. Or maybe… Maybe he could make himself look like other people?

As if he was reading your mind, he nodded, “I am a shape shifter, whatever form I wish to take, I can without much effort or thought.” He paused to smirk.

“Perhaps, I can pretend to be one of the maids… That would be a neat trick, don’t you think?”

You bit your lip, suddenly remembering all the unsavory things that the maids said about Loki when you all knew he wouldn’t hear you. You looked guiltily down at your lap, not feeling courageous enough to tell him no, but also too timid to tell him that it would be a good idea.

You were afraid for the other girls in that room, who would be all but oblivious to the fact that the wolf they all feared was hiding in their safe haven. You felt that if you let Loki in, it would be a violation of the girl’s little semblance of privacy. Even if these girls weren’t in the most of ideal situations, they all had a room where the guards weren’t constantly keeping watch over them, and they could hide under a blanket, knowing that it was only girls like them around.

Hesitantly, you picked your head up, meeting Loki’s raised brow, much more slender and shaped than before. “I… If you wish, my…. Queen?”

Loki gave you a small chuckle; “You do not need to switch my pronoun when I am in this form. I am a male, despite having a woman’s features.”

You nodded slowly. That would make it so much easier for you to remember, “Oh… Alright, my King.”

You looked back towards the large French doors that lead out to Loki’s private balcony, looking at the moon that was high in the sky. It would be about a week before it was full again.

You took in a small breath, hearing Loki move to slide under to coverlets, a small, breathy sound filling the now quiet room. The sound reminded you of the secret whispering of silk sliding across itself. You bit your lip, glancing over at Loki back in his normal form.

You would have to be careful of Loki, even more so. Knowing that he could take any form that he wished could cause problems. You would definitely have to warn the other girls, especially Dana, when you got to see her.

This could be dangerous, and as much as you wanted to not have to tiptoe around Loki, this made you much more anxious around him than you ever were. This simple fact that Loki could shape shift put you back to square one with trusting Loki. Which was weird, you didn’t think that you had come anywhere close to trusting Loki. But compared to now as to where you were at the beginning of the night, it felt like a magnitude of trust.

Loki sighed gently, and that signaled the end of the line. You stood quickly, turning and bending at the waist, averting your eyes as you bowed low to him.

“Goodnight, my King…” You murmured, backing away and blowing out the candles that you passed. You hit the door gently, slipping out of the entrance. You closed it with a hollow click. Waiting for a few moments to take in a deep breath to steady yourself before rushing back to your room, carelessly opening the door with a bang and effectively waking up the girls that were asleep. It was late enough that everyone was in the room.

Despite their burning glares, you ignored them, shutting the door firmly and swallowing heavily, “Loki can shape shift. He just showed me, and informed me that he can take any form that he wishes. He even said it would be a neat trick if he took the form of a woman and spied on us.”

The glared from the girls turned into blinks of confusion, annoyance, and fear, a few of the girls cursed under their breath, and Dana groaned softly, putting a hand over her eyes and huffing softly.

“I guess this means we should be even more on guard now? That’s just fucking great. There’s another thing I just can’t trust about Loki. And I swore it couldn’t get any worse.” Dana mumbled, annoyance and frustration towards Loki burning like fire in her voice.


	13. Chapter 13

Loki’s POV

Sleep did not come easy to me that night. I lay there in the dark, tracing the shapes of the furniture that I could easily make out in the room. Despite closing my eyes and hiding my face deep in the pillows, I couldn’t seem to grasp hold of peaceful sleep. With an irritated huff, I stood, stalking across the cold floor tiles to step out to the balcony. I looked across the expanse of the large, scenic view I had, trying to find solace in the beauty of Midgardian nature. It came, but it was unsatisfactory in this current state.

With a spin on my heel, I called on e of the guards, barking at him to fetch (Name) from her room. Perhaps she would be able to put me to sleep…

Your POV

You woke up from your half sleep instantly when the door opened, a guard scanning the room before making a beeline straight towards your bed. Fear gripped you instantly. Had you done something wrong? Was Loki…

You swallowed hard, trying not to cry out in fear. What if Loki was calling you to him so you could sleep with him?

The guard leaned down next to you, his voice soft, but entirely authoritative.

“The King requires your presence.”

Well, fuck. You swallowed again, forcing yourself to get out of bed, blinking back frightened tears. You didn’t want to sleep with Loki, you feared he would simply use you as a vessel for his own pleasure, and then throw you out as soon as he was done with you.

From the few girls that had slept with him, they had said he liked it rough, and he often went until the girls were nothing but quivering messes.

The entire way to Loki’s room, you felt like you were going to explode in absolute fear of what Loki wanted from you.

However, when you opened the large doors of Loki’s room, your fears were instantly quelled. Loki was sprawled across the coverlets of his bed. His sheets were strewn across the mattress, some of the pillows thrown to the floor. You bit back a smirk. Was Loki having a hard time sleeping? You shut the door quietly, murmuring as you inched closer to him, still careful of his intentions.

Loki looked up at you, nodding slowly, “Yes… I assume you are versed in how to put someone to sleep?”

You shrugged, picking up the pillows and stacking them on the bed, fluffing the material inside them. You guided Loki to lay his head back down on the pillows, draping the silk coverlets over him gently. When you were finished, you stood there awkwardly, looking at Loki as he lay there rigidly.

With a small click of your tongue, you shook your head, “If you want to fall asleep, you’re going to have to relax, you can’t fall asleep when you’re so rigid…”

With a small, slightly irked sigh, Loki glanced back at you, his eyes flashing with both sleepiness and that he wished you to help.

You took in a small breath, hesitating at the edge of the bed as you looked down upon him, deciding to raise a hand slowly to his forehead, snaking back through his raven strands.

He looked at you curiously, wondering why you were petting him so. With ever draw of your hand through his hair; however, he started to close his eyes more and more.

But when he opened his eyes, you feared you had done something wrong, until he slid over, motioning for you to sit next to him. You knew he wasn’t asking, he was commanding. Even still, you slid next to him timidly, keeping as much distance between him and you as you could. Your hand kept drawing through his hair, your nails grazing very softly over his scalp.

After a while, you saw Loki starting to become more relaxed, his eyes fluttering closed, and his breathing evening out to deep, calm breaths.

You smiled in spite of yourself, leaning in closer to add your other hand, trailing through the very ends of his hair and travelling down his neck before going back to the crown of his head.

After a few repetitions of this, Loki murmured sleepily, his voice husky from relaxation. “It is almost as if you enjoy this…”

You shrugged, “It’s just putting you to sleep… I don’t have to like it.”

He took in a small breath and let it out heavily in a small sigh, “Do you now…” He mused, a string of words coming softly from his lips and leaving the air in the room silent. It was a comfortable, sleepy silence, nothing like the others you had experienced when you absolutely didn’t know what to say.

“Perhaps… I shall build you a room next to mind, simply for this purpose.”

You blinked slowly, confused at what he meant.

“Excuse me, my Lord? What do you mean by that?”

He chuckled slowly, his emerald eyes opening with a groggy slowness, “If it wasn’t already apparent, I have taken a certain favour to you… I wish to have you as my personal chambermaid.”

You blanched, your hands stopping partway through Loki’s hair. Again, you swallowed heavily. You wondered if that would mean Loki would want you for everything that he did… Would he stop taking the other girls and use you instead?

Oh, you certainly hoped not. Loki wasn’t the kind of man you wanted to share a bed with, much less preform such an intimate act with him.

Loki sensed your sudden trepidation, moving a hand to untangle your fingers from his hair and moving it from him, “Doe, if I had desired you as you think I do, I would have already made sure you had given yourself to me.”

You blinked, “Do… Do you mean…?”

He interrupted you with a knowing smirk, “Seduced you? Yes… I can work many spells, having men and women alike become dangerously lustful towards me without much effort at all. It’s rather interesting.”

At that confession, you threw yourself off the bed, disgusted at how he played with people’s feelings so easily, choking on air in your shocked haze.

In an instant, you were spouting nonsense, and you said something that you knew you would regret, “Maybe that’s why you were thrown from Asgard! And maybe that’s why everyone hates you so much!” You screamed, clenching your fists and glaring at him.

Loki simply looked over at you, a very hollow and pained glint rushing through his orbs, and you swore you saw the briefest glimmer of teardrops welling in his eyes. But when that was gone, it was replaced with the stoic demeanor that you always saw.

Was that just a mask? You wondered, looking back into his eyes before you bowed your head low, entirely certain that you had hurt the man. And as much as you absolutely hated to admit it, you felt bad for doing so.

“I’m sorry, my King… I’m just… Angered easily by others playing with emotions. I hope you can forgive my outburst.”

Loki sighed again, and when he spoke, it was no longer the dripping warm honey that it was when he was on the very cusp of falling asleep; it was hard and completely guarded. His voice cut you up like a razor, and it made you withdraw inside of yourself.

“Finish your job and leave. That was all I called you in here for, not an assessment of my actions, girl .” He ended with a hiss, and you really didn’t want to get back on the bed with him. But, in order to keep him from being even angrier with you, you slid back over to him, resuming your task of running your fingers through his hair at a slow pace.

Eventually, after what felt like nearly half an eternity, Loki fell asleep. As you moved off of the bed very carefully, you noticed that the moon was starting to sink behind the trees, and you could see just the very faintest glimmer of dusky purple starting to appear.

You grimaced slightly, suddenly feeling how tired you were, stumbling back to your room and nearly passing out in the long hallways back to your room.

When you came to your room, you entered as quietly as you could, tripping over one of the beds and landing with a hard thump on the floor. You groaned quietly, cursing the darkness of the room and your amazing ability to run into anything and everything when you were so tired.

The girl that the bed belonged to woke up after she heard your groaning, sitting up, her voice concerned, “Hey… Are you alright?”

You nodded, sitting up and rubbing your toes where they had contacted the hard frame of the bed.

The girl stood, coming around to sit in front of you, the barest outline of her features standing out in the little light that there was in the room. “What are you doing up so late?”

You sighed slowly, “Loki wanted me, and he said he couldn’t fall asleep.”

The girl’s posture changed instantly, and even though you couldn’t see it, you knew that she had stiffened, “Wait… Loki… What did he do?”

You shook your head, “Nothing like that… I swear. He just had me run my hands through his hair. You know, anything relaxing…”

“Oh, that’s certainly good… Why do you think that he couldn’t sleep?”

You shrugged, letting a heavy sigh escape from you, grimacing at the throbbing in your toes, “Who the hell knows… It’s like trying to judge the emotions of a cat, you can never tell, even if you’ve been around for a while.”

X

That next afternoon, guards entering the room woke you up, demanding that all the girls got up. You did so in fuzzy confusion, wondering exactly why you were up so early. Your internal clock had completely switched, and waking up when the sun was high in the sky was now something of a foreign sight to you.

You blinked at the brightness of the room, looking around as you combed your fingers through your hair.

What was happening?

Thankfully, the guard who stood at the head of the room spoke, clearing up any questions that you had.

“King Loki wishes to make his final choices, from now on, you will have permanently assigned posts. Some of you will become Loki’s personal handmaidens, and the others will join the lower ranks of maids. From then on, you will be trained to fit your station.”

And then, you were all formed into a neat line, being herded out of the room like cattle.

When you all reached the room, you shivered slightly, seeing that Loki was taking his normal, careless slouch at his throne. He tapped a long, slender finger against his chin, eyeing the group of girls that were left.

You noticed that Loki’s eyes lingered on you the longest, making a nearly unbearable itch start underneath your skin. When it moved away, the itch vanished, which you were completely thankful for. You breathed an outward sigh of relief softly, your muscles relaxing, but jumping back into their tense position the moment he started speaking.

The atmosphere in the room went dark immediately, and you could nearly see that the lights in the room lost their glowing splendor. You focused in on Loki, his aura nearly glowing with a dark light.

You had never seen him like this; he had always seemed so neutral, most of the time, even when he was angry with someone. That aura never came visible to you, until now. And to be honest, it scared you.

“I am sure my guards have already explained this situation to you accurately enough, so I will save my breath. I will choose two girls for my night shift, two for my afternoon, and two for the morning. The rest will be trained as servants in other parts of the castle.

He took a small breath, before scanning the line of girls and continuing, “I will call one of you forward at a time, and I will tell you of your fate.”

A black haired girl next to you scoffed under her breath, murmuring so softly you had a hard time hearing it, “He sounds so damn pretentious.”

When Loki started evaluating the girls, you were instantly put back to the very first say that you were here. It felt like years, even though it was only a few months or so. It felt like it took hours before Loki called you forward, that itching feeling getting back under your skin again and tormenting you to no end. You bit your lip, trying not to shudder from the irritation you felt.

Loki looked you over for a few minutes, much longer than any other girl that he had already called forward. Thousands of thoughts drove through your mind, hoping that you wouldn’t be put with the other maids. You feared that the people who commanded you would be brutal and mean, instead of the dull sense of terror that you felt whenever Loki was around.

Eventually, he spoke. His words came out slowly, as if he were formulating his decision as he spoke, “As I have grown rather fond of you, I shall allow you to remain on my night shift. However, Outbursts like last night will not be forgiven again. You will be taught to hold your remarks.”

You swallowed heavily, forcing your knees to bend in a clumsy curtsey, bowing your head respectfully. “Thank you, my King…” You murmured, going back to your place in the line.

When Loki was finished, six girls were chosen. You and Dana were kept on the night crew, Vanessa and Chandler - Afternoon, and Erika and Sabrina - Morning. You personally didn’t know the four other girls too well; you had only spoken to them a handful of times. But, you were happy that they had made the cut for Loki’s personal maids. You knew Sabrina was easy to make cry, and you feared that if she had been put anywhere else, she wouldn’t have handled it well.

Even Loki could bring her to tears, you knew.

“You will be put into your own rooms, sharing it with your respective partners. However, you will all be trained together. This will start tomorrow.”

A brazen girl by the name of Scarlett stepped forward slightly, “What about the rest of us?”

Loki chuckled, “You will remain in your old chamber, and your own training will start tomorrow. Perhaps I will let my colleagues take you as personal maids, should you pass.”

Scarlett shivered slightly, stepping back and biting her lip. She knew if she said anything else, it wouldn’t go well for her.

Loki waved his hands, murmuring to a trio of guards, motioning for them to take the three groups somewhere else. You assumed that with the wave of Loki’s hands, he had created rooms for you, and that was where you would be going.

You looked over at Dana, who glanced back at you.

As a guard came to lead the two of you, you heard Loki say from behind you, “As personal maids, you can request certain items, to make your living quarters more pleasant, if you wish.”

You tilted your head. That was oddly civil of Loki. Beside you, Dana breathed a soft sigh of relief, “Thank God, I need more hair dye…”

The comment was so strange in that situation, you couldn’t help but laugh, biting your lip to keep from barking out, making yourself chuckle only very softly, your shoulders shaking in place of your giggles.

Perhaps, with Dana, it wouldn’t really be so bad after all. You were actually looking forward to rooming with her, who knows what she could start to come up with.

You wondered, even, if things might be turning up. But you honestly doubted that in the long run.

You would be trapped in this strange sort of servitude until Loki got tired of you, or if something miraculous happened and someone overthrew Loki.


	14. Chapter 14

The room you entered was stunning. Not in the fact it was extravagantly decorated (it wasn’t), but it was the fact that it actually looked comfortable . You were unused to this; the room you have slept in reminded you of more of a military camp’s bunk than something you’d live in. There was even a window! And it wasn’t barred or covered with a protective barrier. You could look out of it clearly, into a lush garden that was nothing less than beautiful.

A small gasp came from Dana, drawing your attention to her. She was standing by a dark brick fireplace. You tilted your head, Loki actually trusted you two with a fireplace?

Somehow, you almost knew it was too good to be true. But… Nothing looked out of the ordinary so far.

Dana glanced over at the door near the fireplace, deciding she wanted to explore. You followed her just as curiously, walking into a large bathroom. You blinked slowly, scanning your surroundings. A large, claw-footed tub stood on a raised platform at the head of the room, partially clocked by a dark wood partition that was ornamented with gold filigree. The floor was made of a deep grey rock that looked like shale, the small rifts and curved in the material, giving a strange sensation under your feet. To your right, there was a small door, which you assumed held a toilet. Immediately next to that door were two sinks, the bowls made of marble, as well as the rest of the counter. The cabinets below held several fluffy towels, as well as a few long racks next to an open closet door. You moved to go to it, lights instantly illuminating your surroundings.

The closet held a sea of black fabric, accented with bits of emerald green here and there. You assumed these would be your working uniforms, since the emerald sashes were ornamented with gold crescent moons and glittering stars. There were also angular looking runes, which you couldn’t read. You assumed that it said something about being on the night team.

You turned, going back to the rain section of the room, deciding that you wanted the bed on the left side of the room. You sat, blinking at the give of the mattress, unused to such fluffiness. “Wow…” You murmured, bouncing up and down slightly, before getting distracted by a door neither of you had opened yet. You went to it, turning the handle and peering into the darkness that greeted you. Much like when you went into the closet, soft lights greeted you.

Insane curiosity drove you down the small hallway, the only sound being the soft crackling of the flame torches and your soft footfalls on the hardwood flooring. When you reached the end of a hallway, you were met with another door. You opened with without thought, peering into the room that was behind it. You found Loki sitting in his chair, flipping the pages of a thick book.

“I know you’re there. Come and sit, little doe…” He said, not even looking up from his book. You took in a soft breath, opening the door and inching into the room.

Hesitantly, you moved to sit next to him, looking over at his relaxed form.

“What brings you here?”

You motioned to the door at the other end of the room, “I was curious to where the hall led…” You murmured, fiddling with the fabric of your shirt.

He nodded, flipping a page in his book with long, elegant fingers. You watched his hands quietly, observing how one hand held the book, his other hand trailing over the margins on the page. He glanced over at you, a slow smirk appearing on his lips, “I can see you have become distracted by my hands, doe…”

Deciding to play it cool, you nodded, “Yeah… I guess so.” Most guy’s hands aren’t like yours.”

“That is because I work magic, I don’t fight hand to hand like those brutish oafs people call warriors.” He stated, clicking his tongue disdainfully.

You nodded slowly, glancing around the room again.

“The room you gave us if very nice, my King, thank you.” You said after a few moments of silence.

Loki nodded, “You are welcome, doe. Consider is a reward for becoming an excellent servant… Despite some annoying behaviors, of course.”

You blushed softly, playing with your skirt again. You heard a soft chuckle from Loki, causing you to look up at him.

“Oh… Dana wants hair dye… I thought I should tell you.”

Loki’s brows rose, “Ah, yes…” Perhaps I shall send out a servant later to acquire this dye.” He mused softly, returning his attention to his book.

The two of you remained silent for several minutes, before Loki closed his book with a dull snap. He turned his head to gaze at you, “I am surprised you haven’t left yet…”

You shrugged, “Well… You never told me to leave.”

“Mmm.” He started simply, passing a hand through his hair as he set the book aside, “Would you like to begin your proper training?”

You tilted your head, “My training?” What would that be, my King?”

Loki chuckled, standing and motioning you to do so as well. “I shall put you through all possible situations, every possible emotion, you will learn how to deal with and satisfy. Once you are able to pass those tests, you will become my permanent maid.”

You sighed inwardly, but nodded, “We may begin… We might as well get it over with.”

X

What happened in those next few hours become a complete blur. Loki decided to start you off with a bit of a challenge. He created a duplicate of himself, and said duplicate was rather annoyed with your presence. However, that wasn’t too hard after you remained as quiet and out of the way as possible, only speaking when Loki bothered to ask you anything. When Loki finally noticed that you had appeased his supplicate, he made the situation more and more challenging. The final challenge was a very angry Loki. Aside from being terrified half to death, Loki’s burning glares often made you mess up.

Eventually, when the duplicate started to make you cry, Loki made it disappear, coming to you and putting a hand on your shoulder.

“It was just and illusion, doe. There is no need to shed tears, now quit crying.” He spoke rather gently to you, which was odd, but his tone was still firm. You sniffed, stopping your tears and wiping the rest of your tears away. Loki watched you silently, before stepping back and turning abruptly, waving his hand at you dismissively.

“Go, get some rest, your shift starts in a few hours.”

You nodded; sniffing a few more times and going quickly back to your room. When you came back, Dana was asleep, curled up in her bed. She had left a note on your side table, simply expressing concern for where you had went, and if she didn’t see you back after she woke up she’d make a scene trying to find out where you were. You smirked slightly, looking at the girl in the bed and shaking your head slightly. Her protectiveness was cute, especially when her note was written in both a serious and comedic way. You went over to your bed as quietly as you could, curling up under your blankets and shoving your face deep into your pillow. You quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep that was interrupted sooner than you would’ve liked.

When you went back to Loki’s room, nothing was said about how his duplicate brought you to tears. That made you happy that he wasn’t teasing you about it so openly, and you did your work without complaint that night.

The next few days went along the same way. Sometimes you’d visit Loki during the afternoon for another try at passing the test, go take a nap, and do your work later that night.

But one night, things went a little differently than they had been fore. Loki had sent you and Dana to the library to pick up a few large spell books. Each one weighed about twenty pounds, and was wider than you were. They were a ridiculous size, and they were about four inches thick. When you came back, you only just barely made it thorough the antechamber to Loki’s room when you heard arguing. You recognized Loki’s voice immediately, but the second voice was wholly unfamiliar. Not wanting to interrupt, you set the large book down on a nearby table and pressed your ear against the heavy door.

Thankfully, the argument was loud enough that you had no problem hearing it through the thick door.

“You will obey me! I am the one who gave you the power to take over this pathetic realm, you Jötun runt. I can take it away if need be.” The unfamiliar voice hissed.

You took a small, inward breath. Loki had a boss. Well, that was most certainly new.

You heard a heavy sigh from Loki, “I am very aware, but I will rule this realm on my own accord. You have appointed me as king and I will act as such.” He was stern, but calm. You never heard him speak so subserviently, like Loki would be punished if he truly lashed out.

Dana shut the door to the antechamber louder than you would have liked her to, earing a glare from you and a one-fingered jab at the door as you mouthed, “Eavesdropping!”

She blinked, tilting her head and mouthing back, “Sorry… Who?”

You shrugged, turning back to the door, just in time to hear Loki say, “You had better go, I hear my maids returning. I know you do not want to be revealed.”

The unfamiliar voice grunted in response, and you assumed he had left. You turned to pick up the spell book you had been carrying, jumping when the door opened, Loki’s tone completely different than before.

“In. I know you two heard.” He ordered sharply, ushering you inside the room quickly. You complied, not willing to find out what would happen if you didn’t. After the two of you were inside, Loki shut the door, standing in front of the two of you.

“How much did you hear?”

You swallowed, “Just the very end of the conversation, my King…” You said slowly, looking up at him.

Loki relaxed visibly, and nodded, “Good.”

Dana stepped forward, “What’s keeping me from telling everyone that you’re just a puppet?”

Loki looked at her sternly, “Come now, you think blackmail will work?”

She nodded, “Once word gets out that the might king Loki is only a puppet ruler, those who’ve been plotting revenge will surely take advantage of that.”

Loki sighed, and you could tell he didn’t want to have to deal with keeping an eye on Dana as well as constantly wondering if he had to take more measures to protect his absolute power.

But he also didn’t want to concede. You saw the battle go on in blinding emerald flashes in his eyes, his dilemma apparent.

“Name your bargain, and perhaps I will consider, girl.”

Dana took a deep breath, as if preparing herself for the worst, “I want to see Steve.”


	15. Chapter 15

Dana’s POV

My heart was racing. Nearly pounding out of my chest, my throat constricting with fear.

Loki had said nothing about Steve’s current condition. He could be alive, dying… Or, I hated to even think of it, dead. I bit my lip hard, following the tall, dark haired man to where I assumed he kept the prisoners.

I tried to calm myself, anxiety welling up in my chest, my head swimming. I didn’t want to freak out right now, but if Steve wasn’t alright… I was afraid I would lose him.

I loved him more than anything, he made me feel beautiful, he made me laugh, and he just… I didn’t think that I could live on this world knowing that he had died in some sort of terrible torture that Loki had ordered to be inflicted on him. Deep breaths. You can’t jump to conclusions; you know that’ll only make it worse. Just wait until you see him.

I took several deep breaths, not caring that my loud exhales echoed through the halls, and that I could practically feel Loki’s smirk, even as he walked ahead. (Name) walked right next to me, offering a small bit of comfort. At least if I saw a grave instead of a man I would have something to cling to, to yell and scream to, and keep myself from launching myself, howling and spitting and clawing, at Loki.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Loki stopped at two large doors, waving his hand over a small bar that jutted out slightly of the intricately decorated door. If someone passed it, they might not even pay mind to it, it just looked so ordinary. It seemed as if it had held another guest room, and not a prison.

Suddenly, I realised that I had been walking over here a while ago, since these doors were very near the kitchens. My knees suddenly became wobbly, and I nearly dropped, realising that I had been walking past his cell, and I hadn’t even noticed.

(Name) noticed, since she had also come with me several times, and she grabbed my shoulders, immediately helping me stand all the way, murmuring softly, “Shh, Dana… It isn’t your fault. You didn’t know. You can’t blame yourself.”

I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. Terribly afraid that he wasn’t okay, afraid that he would be dying right in front of me, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything to help.

I took a soft breath, it turning out sounding more like a whimper when Loki pushed open the door, revealing a large, but dim room, the walls covered with rough bricks, instead of the smooth painted walls everywhere else. Loki blocked most of the doorway, and I wanted to shove him aside, rather than waiting for him to turn slowly.

I immediately went up right behind him, watching as Loki simply motioned down to Steve, who was currently asleep, his breathing rather deep. Normally, I wouldn’t dare wake him up, since he wasn’t an entirely pleasant riser most of the time. But I couldn’t help it, my voice immediately rising to a loud shriek, beyond overjoyed that he was all right, that he was well, and that he didn’t seem to be inured.

Steve immediately jolted up, blinking quickly, but immediately coming to, his instincts waking up and jumping to action. It took him a bit to realise it was me, and when he did, his face was an extreme mix of emotions, most of which I couldn’t exactly pinpoint.

“Oh my God… Dana!” He yelled, standing, immediately rushing to me, picking me up and spinning me around, kissing all over my face, gasping and holding me close, sniffing, his voice immediately becoming hoarse, “I… I thought I’d never see you again…”

He set me down, his hands immediately coming to my cheeks, his lips meeting my lips quickly, before kissing all over my face. I started to cry; my voice high pitched still, “I didn’t think I would either! I… I… I thought you were dead!” My tears started to run quicker, sniffing and whimpering and hugging him tightly, gasping softly, immediately starting to sob in his arms.

He blinked, his voice becoming even gentler than it already was, holding me close, running a hand through my hair and murmuring, the smile evident in his voice, “You still have your blue hair…”

I smiled widely, sighing happily and nuzzling him, “Well… It wasn’t like I was going to skip out on our little bet… And besides… It was the last thing I had of you…”

He smiled gently, pressing his lips against the top of my head, breathing in deeply, his arms tightening around my waist, his breaths completely relieved, as if he was finally relaxing for the first time in months.

Loki sighed softly, speaking up finally, “You’ve seen your lover. Now it is time to go.”

(Name) blinked, stepping over to Loki, speaking softly, “My king… Please, don’t force her away so soon. They’re in love, and it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other… Leave them here for a night?”

Loki blinked, sighing softly, obviously swayed for some strange reason, possibly because he felt sympathetic for me, which was probably unlikely, or that he just assumed it would get me to shut up for a long while if he let me stay with Steve.

I looked up, blinking, hopeful, “Could he… Could he stay with us in our private chambers? We… We could have all the entrances guarded as heavily as you wish… I… We just… We’d connect better…” I paused, suddenly remembering I had quite a bit of blackmail on this man, and I had better use it to my advantage. There was no reason for being polite and trying to convince him just out of the power of love.

No… I was going to play dirty. As dirty as I possibly could to see Steve again. Loki had tortured me with the simple face that he could kill off the Avengers, and I was about to get him back for the suffering that he had brought me.

I smirked to myself, stepping from Steve’s arms, into Loki’s line of sight; my head raised tall, crossing my arms and projecting the utmost power I could into my voice, “Actually. You will let Steve come to my room tonight. Or else you can kiss the pretty little secret of your ‘master’ goodbye.” I smirked, looking up at him fearlessly.

It was probably stupid of me to challenge him like this when he could easily flick his wrist and snap my neck with just a bit of magick, but I honestly didn’t give two shits.

I stood there, staring him down, his eyes flashing with anger, then surprise, and then he smirked, tilting his head down to meet my eyes, “Look at you… You’re definitely not fearless… You should be… But, needless to say I admire your… Determination to stand up to a god.”

I smirked, shrugging; “I never really let a god hold power over me. You don’t really intimidate me, even if you are real and right in front of me.”

He chuckled softly, smirking, “You’re both foolish and very wise. I most definitely hope your foolishness won’t overpower your wisdom.” He sighed softly, shaking his head, waving a hand, “Very well… I will allow your lover to stay with you for the night. But, once you get back into your room, there will be no leaving it. Not a soul will escape that room tonight.”

I nodded, smirking to myself, taking Steve’s hand, tugging him out of the room.

I could tell he was surprised, he hadn’t seen me act like this before. I heard his soft chuckle, leaning down to me and murmuring, “You sure like to take control, don’t you?”

I laughed softly, smiling back at him, stopping to kiss him quickly, nodding, “Especially when I was set into thinking that you were dead, and that Loki had taken pride in your death.”

Steve blinked, taking a breath before nodding, “That… Would make sense. I definitely would have done the same for you…”

I laughed softly, kissing his cheek as I lead him to my room, “I think you’re rubbing off on me, Spangles…”

He laughed, shaking his head and sighing softly, looking down at me with his sky blue eyes that I always seemed to get lost in.

Oh… I was so happy to have him back.


	16. Chapter 16

Dana’s POV

I looked back up at Steve, shivering out of happiness. He hummed, glancing down at me and reaching down to stroke my cheek, leaning down to kiss me softly. I heard (Name) giggle very softly. I glanced over at her, raising a brow and humming, “Jealous of my super soldier?”

(Name) laughed, smirking slightly, “I just honestly never thought he’d have a girlfriend.”

I shrugged slowly, “That’s what Tony said, too.”

Steve groaned just then, rolling his eyes and resting his forehead against the top of mine, “They had a bet going on how long it would take me to ask Dana out.” He started to play with my hair, smiling happily to himself and murmuring, “That’s a really good colour on you, doll.”

I glanced at him lovingly, running my hand across his arm gently, nuzzling him sweetly before looking back at (Name), “They really did.”

(Name) smiled widely, tilting her head slightly, “You two are the most adorable thing.”

Glancing back at Steve, I nodded, sighing happily and moving to hug him tightly, moving to sit on his lap, wanting to get as close as possible to him. “Oh, don’t worry. Maybe Loki will get a soft spot for you and you two can cuddle all night long.” I teased, sticking my tongue out at (Name) playfully.

(Name) gasped, making noises and falling back on to the bed, “Oh! Anything but that!” Steve smirked slightly at that, tugging my hair playfully.

“That’s terribly cruel to do to your friend, sweetheart. If you want to punish her, give her Tony.” He said, a mischievous glimmer in his eye as he glanced back and forth between the two of us.

I gasped, giving a loud giggle and clapping my hand over my mouth, “Oh! You are so evil!”

(Name) laughed loudly, tipping back on her bed and putting her hand over her abdomen. “Damn! Has he always been like this?”

I slowly stopped laughing, shaking my head, my voice still sounding breathless when I began to speak again, “Not at all! At first he was the sweetest thing, and blushed at nearly everything!” I glanced at him, watching a small blush creep up on his cheeks out of embarrassment, “But then, after he gained enough confidence to ask me to be his girl, he totally started to tease more!”

Steve bit his lip, trying to hide a proud smirk, glancing up at (Name) and mouthing to her, “I couldn’t hide it from her forever!”

(Name) smirked, nodding and mouthing back, “I can totally understand.” After that, I giggled, humming and tugging on Steve’s hand, murmuring to him, “Come and take a bath with me, sweetheart. I’m absolutely dying to see those muscles of yours again.”

Steve smiled widely, kissing me deeply before he got up and followed me into the large bathroom.

“We’ll be back before the sun comes up, (Name)!” I yelled to her before shutting the door, honestly too excited that Steve was back to do anything but look at him.

Your POV

You were so happy for Dana. She looked so happy now, and the dark look that haunted her face had completely lifted, and it was replaced with utter enjoyment. You blushed softly; hearing happy gasps and giggles from the bathroom, deciding you wanted to go for a walk in that little tunnel. Why not go spend time with Loki? If he didn’t send you back immediately. But why would he punish you for simply doing your job?

So, you stood, opening the tunnel door just as you heard a louder giggle and a whole hell of a lot of happy gasping. A larger blush came to your cheeks, darting down the hall and knocking on the door, biting your lip in embarrassment.

Loki came to the door, opening it slowly and raising a brow, “Good Evening, (Name)?”

You smiled very slowly, finding it weird that he wasn’t immediately biting your head off with his sarcasm. That would probably come soon enough, but come to think of it, he looked really tired. Almost as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep in months. “I think they’re doing it in the bathroom. So I came to see if you needed anything.”

Loki blinked very slowly at you, tilting his head curiously at your use of language, “Excuse me… Doing what?”

Laughing softly, you tried to correct yourself, “They’re… Making love. In the bathroom. I think.”

For a moment, Loki was silent, before he laughed and shot you a look, his eyes twinkling mischievously, “Would you like to do the same with me, Doe?”

This time, it was your turn to tilt your head, your blush growing even stronger. No, you definitely wouldn’t deny the fact that Loki was attractive, even when he looked so sleep deprived. And, the way his hair was falling haphazardly in front of his face, some strands falling back from a ponytail and into his deep green eyes. And goodness, those eyes were sparkling with the very essence of mischief. Before long, he turned, moving to sit languidly on one of his many chairs. “I assumed so.”

You bit your lip, hesitating at the doorway before following him, taking a seat on the chair next to him. Loki looked over at you, playing with a strand of silky black hair. “At least buy me dinner first, didn’t you learn how to seduce a girl on Asgard? Thor sure did.”

Loki gave you a rude look, before rolling his eyes after he realized that you were only teasing. After he realized that, he decided to shoot back with his own wit, “I can assure you, I can pleasure women in a multitude of ways compared to my… sibling.”

You giggled slightly, smirking at him, raising a brow, “Oh? Is that why I don’t hear anything from the others about how amazing you are in bed?”

Loki laughed, shaking his head and humming, “I haven’t taken a woman to bed in a while. Perhaps that’s why.” He glanced around, taking his hair down from his ponytail, running his long, thin fingers through it. It looked like a black waterfall, inky and dark, and it smelled softly of sandalwood. You had an urge to tug on it and see what he would do. When Loki noticed that you were watching his hair move like liquid ribbons through his hands, he stopped, getting up and retrieving a brush.

He handed it to you, sitting on an ottoman in front of you. “If you’d like to play with my hair, you can brush it.”

You nodded slowly, smiling softly as you pulled it all behind it shoulders, humming cutely to yourself as you started to brush. It was already so smooth; any little knots that had worked their way in throughout the day disappeared easily. You didn’t want to stop, so you just kept running the brush through it, along with your hands. Before too long, Loki decided to speak.

“You have very gentle hands. And if you wanted to touch my hair, you could have just asked.”

You smiled softly to yourself, tugging very, very, very lightly at a strand, watching his shoulders move slightly out of surprise, “Maybe I almost did ask you.”

Dana’s POV

Steve ran his hands over my sides quietly, his head tipped back against the sloped edge of the tub, while I curled up on his lap, watching small, dye-coloured drips streak down his chest. I trailed a finger after them quietly, before glancing up at his face and placing a gentle kiss at his lips.

Steve smiled brilliantly, his sparkling eyes opening just a small bit. “Morning, beautiful. Have I woken up in heaven?”

I snorted, poking his cheek and shaking my head, “You wish. Then you’d have me feed you grapes all day.”

He hummed, laughing quietly, “No, I don’t think I’d do that to you. And we all know I’d be the one to be feeding you the grapes.” He tugged my hair playfully, kissing my cheek and feigning a higher pitched voice, “Steve! Honey, make lunch for me, I’m too tired to get up! Steve, oh, Steve, I’m about to die from the cold, turn on the heat even though it’s sixty degrees outside and ten degrees warmer inside!”

I gasped, smacking his chest and sticking my tongue out at him, “You suck! You know I grew up in a desert all my life! Eighty was cold to us!”

Steve gave a full, happy laugh, leaning in to kiss me softly, “That doesn’t change anything. You’ve lived in New York with me for a while.”

I rolled my eyes, “And it can’t be the fact you’re never cold. You practically put yourself back in the iceberg when you go to sleep.” He simply smiled at me, causing me to tug on his hair in retaliation. He winced, and I giggled, before pressing a kiss to the part of his head where I tugged. “And you know I’m a needy little shit. It’s why you love me. Right?”

Steve hummed, nodding, “Yep. And your tiramisu.” He kept his hands running up and down my sides, before pinching my hips playfully, his eyes opening fully.

“How much time do we have together tomorrow?” He asked seriously, his hands stilling and holding my hips tighter, like he would have to leave right then. “I don’t want to go back there. He might hurt you.”

I grimaced, sighing quietly and putting my hands on his cheeks, getting serious along with him, “He’s not putting you back in that cell. I know his secret. And I can get a whole lot more from (Name) if I need to, or the other girls. I’m going to force him to give us a nice room together.”

Steve rose both of his brows, thinking such a task was impossible. “How?”

I smiled, kissing him, “You’ve always told me I was persuasive.”

Steve laughed quietly, biting his lower lip and murmuring, “I do. I can’t resist you.”

Your POV

Somehow, you had ended up having a drink of wine with Loki. You couldn’t recall how it had happened, but you had a nearly empty glass in your hand, and your head was starting to feel fuzzy. Who knew wine had so much alcohol content?

Really, it didn’t, but it was Asgardian wine, and Loki only let you try a little bit, just to humour you. Especially since you hadn’t shut up about having something that actually tasted nice.

And now, he was laughing softly at you, watching as your head lolled from side to side, and he lounged on the bed. He had finished his wine before you, his skin only feeling slightly warm from the alcohol. He picked up a book, and you watched him, wanting to snatch it and run off to the room.

“I wonder if Dana and Steve are done doing it.” You mused, tapping your chin with your fingertips.

Loki hummed, flipping a page, “I wouldn’t think so. Lovers who have been apart for a while often can’t keep themselves apart after they’re reunited. It might go on all night.”

You groaned, dropping against the couch and sighing heavily, “Ugh, I hate couples. I want to be in my own bed!”

Loki laughed, smirking at you, looking up from his book and tilting his head, “What’s stopping you? Propriety?”

You nodded, “Yep. And I don’t want to have my childhood image of Captain America completely shattered by seeing him pounding a girl.” You blinked, gasping, “I’m surprised he’d even agree to something like that before marriage… Wait. Are they married?”

Loki shook his head, “Dana never wore a ring. And neither did he. Unless she was hiding it this entire time.”

You nodded, having forgotten that Dana had told you that she was only dating him. “That’s too bad. They’d be a cute married couple.”

With another look, Loki turned another page, his other hand moving across the page, “I thought you just said you hated couples.”


	17. Chapter 17

For several more hours, you stayed with Loki, only ever leaving him so that you could fetch his dinner, along with more wine.

You had come back quickly, watching him eat as you lounged on one of his plush chairs. Would he be annoyed with you if you stayed on the chair all night? With a soft hum, you say up and prepared yourself to ask him that very question. But he beat you to it.

“No, just as long as you’re quiet while I’m trying to sleep.” He drawled out coolly, sparing you the smallest of glances. You were slightly surprised that you didn’t catch any innuendo, or that he wasn’t inviting you to join him in his bed.

You shrugged slightly, flopping back down to your original position in the chair. Looking at him quietly, you continued to settle down, a happy, contented smile pulling at the corners of your mouth. After a while, Loki sat up, leaning over to observe you quietly. You shot him a small, half-awake smile, “Checking to make sure I’m not breaking the rules?” You hummed, playing with a strand of your hair.

Loki shrugged, giving you the smallest of smirks and a small, breathy laugh, “Just checking to see if you had fallen asleep. You’ve been quiet tonight, (Name).”

“I’m just still surprised that you gave in to Dana’s little threat.” You said honestly, looking up at him without fear. Maybe it was the wine, but you were feeling rather bold tonight.

Loki grimaced slightly, biting the inside of his lip and growling very quietly to himself. He looked to the side, before shaking his head and saying blandly to you, “I told my adopted father that I would one day be a ruler. And imagine how well received I would be if anyone found out that I’m only a chess piece.” He looked back at you, getting a slightly dangerous look in his eye. “And I trust that I will be able to appease the two of you, so you won’t have the desire to tell my secrets.”

He paused to chuckle, a glint of humour and pain in his eyes, although you couldn’t figure out where the pain was coming from. “I’m not used to being the one not having all of the secrets to myself, little Doe.” Loki kept looking at you, his emerald eyes starting to burn deep into yours. But you didn’t look away. In fact, you kept looking in them, slowly starting to sit up before going to stand at the edge of his bed, never taking your eyes away from his.

“You are the god of secrets and mischief.” You said quietly. Slowly, you glanced down at the mattress next to you, deciding you wanted to climb up on to it and sit in front of him. And so, you did. Loki watched you with a surprised look on his face.

And for some reason, the idea to play a game came to mind. “Hey… Since we’re gonna be stuck in here all night, you wanna play a game?”

Loki blinked at you again, “I don’t know. It depends on what kind of game it is.”

You giggled quietly; tilting your head and picking the first random game that came to your head, “The Nervous Game?”

Again, Loki gave you a blank, but confused look, “I don’t think I know what that is.”

With a soft giggle, you put your hand on his, asking him quietly, “Are you nervous?”

With a soft sigh, he shook his head, “No.”

You continued touching him, moving up his arm. You went to his wrist, forearm, upper arm, shoulder, and then to his collarbone. Each time he gave you the same answer, and each time he seemed as if he was getting more and more annoyed. Before you had the chance to move to his chest, he asked you, “What in the world is the point of this?”

You rolled your eyes, tapping his chest and smirking, “It’s a fun game! I touch you in different places, and then I ask you if you’re nervous. And if you say yes, then I win!”

Loki’s mouth curved up in a slightly amused smile, “Doe… Do you really think a girl touching me in different places would make me nervous? I’ve been touched every place imaginable by a woman. And men, of course.” Loki smirked widely after a bit, purring softly, “Perhaps I should be the one touching you. Then the game would really have a purpose.”

You blushed deeply, covering your mouth with your hand in embarrassment. But, he had a point. And why not, if you got really uncomfortable, you could just pull yourself away from him and run off back to your room. Slowly, you nodded, sitting up straight and moving a bit closer to you. Loki gave you a soft, amused laugh, “You’re a very interesting woman. One moment, you don’t even wish me to breathe in your direction, and the next, you’re allowing me to touch you.”

You gave him a small shrug, watching him as he settle himself once more, “I’m just gonna blame it on the alcohol.” That caused Loki to chuckle, before giving you a soft pout.

“I’m sad to think that the only way that you’ll ever let me become intimate with you is when you have alcohol to loosen you up.” He gave you a long-suffering sigh, before placing his hand gently on your big toe.

Of course, you knew he wouldn’t be too serious, he had several glasses of wine, and you could tell that he was loosening up as well. You decided you liked the fact that Loki was being less stern and serious. He was a lot nicer to be around when he actually laughed.

And the fact his laugh sounded so sweet and gentle, you just adored hearing it. You smiled to yourself, forgetting the fact that his hand moved, resting on your forearm. You jumped when his hand rested gingerly on your arm, before hearing him laugh yet again, “Please tell me that I haven’t won already.” He teased you.

You scoffed, waving your hand in the air and shaking your head, “If I got nervous every time someone touched my forearm, I’d be a shivering ball on the floor.” You paused, before looking at him, “Keep going.”

Loki nodded slowly, before trailing his fingertips gingerly up your arm. Finally, he let them rest gingerly against your bicep, looking up at you and winking. “Nervous, doe?”

You shook your head, flashing him a toothy smile, “Keep on going!”

And so he did. His fingertips kept running across your arm, before starting to brush across your collarbone. You shivered very slightly, actually feeling how cool and smooth his hand was. And his light touches had small tremors running down your spine. He didn’t go lower, however, resting his hand on your neck softly.

“Can I keep going?”

You nodded slowly, watching his face as he touched your cheek. You smiled slightly at him, giggling when he touched your forehead. He laughed along with you quietly, poking the very tip of your nose, almost as if he was being affectionate towards you.

After that, he touched your bottom lip with the tip of his thumb, sighing quietly and murmuring, “You have very soft lips. How many others have gotten the chance to kiss them before?” He asked, perking a brow at you before flashing a smile, “And don’t lie. I’ll know if you do.”

You blushed softly, looking down at his hand. “A lot less than you have, I’ll bet.” You said simply, not wanting to give him an actual answer.

“Is it more than ten, Doe?” He asked, moving his thumb slightly before letting it rest at the side of your mouth. You gave him a soft look that caused him to smile at you, “Less than ten?”

You nodded slowly, “That’s more like it.”

He hummed, looking back down at your lips, as if their shape and colour could tell him everything that he wanted to know. “Six people.”

You smirked slightly, “Nope.”

Again, he paused to think. “Four?”

You gave him a giggle, “You’re getting closer.”

Loki nodded, looking up into your eyes once again, “Three is my final answer.”

With a small, hesitant smile, you nodded, your blush getting slightly deeper as you finally admitted it. Loki made a soft noise in his throat, letting his thumb trace across your bottom lip, “You are very innocent… But you’re lucky not to have been kissed by so many people… It’s still memorable for you.”

You hummed quietly, the feeling of the soft pad of his thumb making more shivers run across your body. Hesitantly, you cupped your hand around his wrist, just intending to rest your hand there. “Are you saying that kisses can’t be memorable for you?”

He nodded slowly, watching your fingers play with the cuff of his sleeve. “Rather, I strongly doubt it.”

In that moment, you decided to tease him, “What about if I kissed you, would that be memorable?”

Loki gave you a soft laugh, looking at your lips again, “Perhaps. Although I don’t know if it would be memorable in a good way…” He purred, the playfulness very evident in his voice. In retaliation, you nipped at his thumb, trapping it between your teeth. He gave a soft yell of surprise, his eyes widening and pulling it away from your mouth. “Oh! Now if you play like that I think I’d have to reconsider.”

You smiled cheekily at him, blowing him a kiss and patting his shoulder, “Don’t think that you’re getting out of the game so soon!” You giggled, pulling his hand back over to your face.

Loki smirked widely at you, a spark of mischief starting to light up the green depths of his eyes. He gladly resumed touching at your face, proceeding to tug gently on your ears and then tugging on your hair. After he finished there, he glanced down slightly, moving his hand back to your collarbone.

After that, he surprised you, pulling you closer to him so he could rest his hand on your upper back, his face rather close to yours as his cool hand splayed across your upper back. You blinked, the residual heat of your blush igniting once again and coming back tenfold. “Nervous?” He asked, his voice as smooth as silk, and as sweet and enticing as honey. It nearly sounded as if he was trying to lull you back into bed with him after a long night of being tangled up in the sheets together.

Just with that thought, massive shivers fought their way up and down your spine, making you lean forward slightly, accidentally placing the palms of your hands on his thighs.

Loki gave you a soft chuckle, before hearing you squeak out of surprise. He moved his hand a touch lower, the very tips of his fingers dipping under the satin belt that you wore around your waist. You closed your eyes slightly, feeling your head shake slightly as he asked you the same question once again. After a bit, Loki stopped, his head perking up slightly as a question came to mind, “If I can’t succeed to make you nervous with my hands, will I continue with my mouth?”

You gasped very quietly, looking at him with wide eyes, a stutter breaking your voice, “I… I… I-If I… I-I’ve n-never gotten t-that far… But… I g-guess so…”

Loki hummed, tipping his head down so that several feathery, onyx-black strands brushed lightly across your cheeks, his face so close you could smell the soft traces of wine on his breath, and the cool, earthy scent of his hair. And you could have sworn that if he dipped down even a few centimetres lower, his lips would meet yours.

And for the briefest part of a moment, you severely, utterly wanted to know what his mouth felt like.

And then you heard the door open quickly, followed by a maid yelping and dropping something. By the way it landed with a large thud and the sound of something fluttering about, you assumed it was one of Loki’s many beloved spell books.

Oh, fuck. He HATES it when his books get dropped. Poor girl’s probably gonna get tossed over the rafters for that.

As quick as a snake, Loki moved away from you, his hands moving from their position and his body rocketing off the bed. He stood tall against the other edge of the bed, strong and graceful, while you looked like a fish that was flopping around on the deck of a boat. You grimaced; trying to tug down your skirt after having realized your bodice had become bunched up around your waist. You bit your lip hard; trying to make yourself look like you weren’t about to do extremely naughty things with Loki.

Loki wasn’t happy, glaring at the girl, his mouth remaining a hard, straight line. The girl immediately gasped again, tears welling at her eyes as her knees buckled and she rushed out of the room. As soon as she left, Loki took in a large breath, before hissing softly and kneeling down to inspect the book, muttering in a soft but authoritative language. You assumed it was some version of Norse, but you weren’t exactly sure.

You kept sitting on the bed, watching as Loki gathered a few pages that had flung themselves from the binding, watching him find their proper places before placing them back in the book. With a small whisper of sound, the pages looked as if they had fused themselves back into the spine of the book. Loki was completely consumed in that moment, sitting with his legs folded together and caressing the book gently, speaking to it as if it was some small child that needed calming from a terrible nightmare.

You smiled very gingerly at him, finding the fact that he seemed to care a lot about this one book in particular very heart-warming.

In that moment, you started to truly believe that Loki didn’t have a frozen, monstrous heart, but a gentle heart that was simply surrounded by thorns.


	18. Chapter 18

“Loki?” You finally dared to murmur, after he had stopped muttering to himself and fussing with the book. Slowly, his head lifted up to look at you, his stoic mask back in place. He gave you a short smirk before he stood up tall, waltzing to the side of the large room where his large bookshelves stood. Gently, he cleared away the smaller books, placing the larger tome in their place. “Is the book alright?” You asked cautiously, fiddling with his silk bed sheets absentmindedly.

With the grace of a cat, Loki spun on his heel and jumped on to a small couch, stretching out on it like he was the king of the world… Well, he kinda was. “Of course it’s alright.” He hummed, twisting several stray strands of his hair about his fingers. His eyes flitted about the room slowly, not really resting on anything for more than a couple of seconds. “I made sure that no permanent damage was done by that stupid wench.” He added after a while, his gaze finally falling on you.

His head tilted slowly, a wicked smile spreading quickly across his face, reminding you of how wildfire took over large, overgrown forests. He traced your position with his eyes slowly. You wondered why he seemed to be so amused by your position, until you looked at yourself in a mirror that was resting on his dresser.

Your bodice was haphazardly tilted off to one side, delving much lower than it usually did. Not only that, but the shoulder had slipped downwards, which was something you hadn’t noticed as you were trying to right your position. In your rush, your hair had also flown over your face, causing it to look as if someone had been running their hands through it. And (The absolute icing on the cake) you legs were tangled among his sheets, and how you ere tugging and playing with the silky material looked way too seductive for your own good.

With a start, your blush came back in full force. Hesitantly, you lifted a hand to your hair to brush it out of your face, Loki’s gaze burning in to you with every movement you made. Looking back over to him after you finished straightening your hair; you tried to force your blush not to be so high on your cheeks. It didn’t work, especially when Loki stood and stalked his way towards the end of the bed. “I don’t believe we ever finished out little game, Doe.” He murmured, his hands twisting with one another.

Dumbly, you shook your head, not moving to do anything else but sit there. Loki gave a soft chuckle at that, moving to stand next to you, leaning over and drawing his cool fingertips across your cheek, his voice coming to your ears as a soft purr, “Tell me… Were you nervous?” His eyes scanned your face quietly, waiting patiently for an answer. As patiently as a man like him could wait, of course.

You swallowed thickly, thinking back on that one single moment. His fingers moved over you just like a lover’s, and your legs curved around his hips to keep yourself steady. You felt all too warm and way too cold at the same time. Shivers raced up and down your spine, but you couldn’t move, you were completely trapped within the confines of his arms.

Completely at his mercy…

With a start, you came back from your little mental reverie, blinking quickly as your eyes ran about the room. Trying to figure out why you had such a vivid memory take place. Biting the inside of your cheek hard, you let your eyes wander back to Loki. You had no blue how a smirk could take over a face like it did on Loki, but it happened. Quietly, you managed to speak, trying to avoid stuttering like crazy. “I… I don’t…”

Loki gave you a dark chuckle; cutting you off before you made the excuse, “Don’t even attempt to lie to me… Especially when you can’t even meet my eyes as you usually do, pretty doe.”

You huffed loudly before you flopped over, leaning on Loki’s pillows and secretly admiring how comfortable and fluffy they were. “So what if I was nervous? Maybe I thought you’d try and kiss me. Maybe I was absolutely terrified!” You snapped at him, giving him a heated glare.

In retaliation, he cracked his knuckles, giving you a smile that made him look as if he knew all of your darkest secrets. “I don’t believe a woman’s pupils dilate as much as yours when they’re terrified. And your bated breath gave off a very strong sense of attraction.” He purred at you.

You raised a brow, pointing at your chest, trying to feign an attitude of aloofness. “Is one not allowed to both be attracted and terrified?”

Loki gave you a thoughtful look, “Is that what you like? Terrifying and seductive?”

Nonchalantly, you shrugged while looking at your fingernails. They needed a trim soon, and you were toying with the idea of painting them. You were so engrossed in observing your nails; you missed the fact that Loki had come right up next to you. He tugged at your wrist so that you would look directly up at him. You jumped at the look in his eyes and the deep timbre his voice turned to. “Then you’re in the right place, sweet little doe.”

You didn’t realise a gasp had come from your lips, until you felt Loki’s fingertips brushing against the bottom of your chin, closing your jaw gently. “Now, it’s not the time to leave your mouth so wide open. You might tempt me into something you don’t want to do.”

With a heavy swallow, you looked up at him, managing to speak, “You wouldn’t do that to me, Loki…” You looked off to the side, “You even said so yourself.”

Loki laughed quietly, shrugging and teasing you, “What if I was lying?”

You shook your head, smiling slightly, “I can tell when you lie. That wasn’t it.”

This time it was Loki’s time to be surprised, giving you an extremely curious look, “You can tell when I lie? Are you so sure about that, doe?”

You simply nodded, your smile becoming just a bit wider. But you didn’t say anything. You didn’t want to explain how you could, or even why you cared about bringing up the fact. It was nice to leave Loki wondering, wanting more from you. But not being able to coax it out of you.

It made you feel slightly giddy, with your little sense of power over the god of mischief.

Hah. You thought to yourself, He can’t know everything that goes on inside my head!

An idea popped into your head, and you smiled very slowly to yourself, even feeling so bold as to pat Loki’s cheek gingerly, just as he did with you. After that, you hopped off the bed as gracefully as you could, managing not to get even more tangled up within his bed sheets. Instead you were able to slip out of them without much difficulty at all. And, you decided along the way you wanted to take a bath. So you headed towards the bathroom, adding a delicate sway to your hips, as if you were enticing Loki.

He called after you, “If you’re inviting me into the bath, I’d love it if you undressed right in front of me.”

You stopped, looking over your shoulder and tossing your hair to the side like a model, “I’d think the God of mischief would be able to tell if a woman wanted you. But in case you can’t… You’re not invited into the tub. Or the bathroom.” You gave him a coy, teasing smile, waving at him before heading in to the bathroom. Behind you, Loki started to sputter slightly, and you refused the urge to look back at him again, just to watch him flounder around. With a happy, inward sigh you shut the bathroom door behind you. After a bit, you heard him knocking, whining almost pathetically, completely out of his element, “You’re not allowed to be in there alone!”

Giggling, you started to undo your corset that kept your dress (mostly) in one place. You called back, “Whatcha gonna do about it? I’m already halfway in the bath!” You called, smirking and turning on the water like you had done many times before. Unbeknownst to you, Loki started to use his magic, turning the hot, steaming water from the tap into freezing cold water. And seeing as you were too busy getting dressed and tossing in some of Loki’s most favourite bath bombs, you didn’t notice that the water wasn’t warm. Until you got in the bathtub, of course.

As soon as you settled down in to the water, the shock of the cold actually hit you. With a not-so-elegant shriek, you started flailing around, like the tub had suddenly become filled with snakes. You jumped out, glaring hotly at the door before groaning loudly. However, you bit back a loud scream of frustration and some very creative curse words directed towards him. That’s exactly what he wanted you to do. He wanted the reaction, probably so you’d come running out and start hitting him before you realised you had conveniently forgotten your towel. Instead, you stalked over to the pile of towels, punching it several times before glaring at the large tub.

You wanted your bath. And you were going to get it, whether Loki allowed you to have hot water or not.

With a soft sigh, you moved back to the tub, sliding in and gritting your teeth, letting out a soft whine at how cold it was. However once you were settled within the large confines of a tub, you found that it was actually kind of nice in a strange way. You found that the cool water made your muscles tense, allowing a strange sense of warmth as your muscles contracted. After your muscles let themselves relax, you felt loose, and the cool water drifted across you in the most wonderful of ways. You sighed happily, giving a little shiver here and there, but finding it extremely easy to let yourself relax. Taking your damn-sweet time, you bathed happily, washing your hair with Loki’s favourite shampoo and conditioner, cleaning yourself off with the most amazing vanilla scented body wash, and cleaning off your face with a soap that smelled softly of sandalwood.

When you were finished, you simply leaned against the edge of the tub, looking up at the ceiling, which amazed you at first sight. Different paintings lined the ceiling, reminding you a little bit of what the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling looked like. Of course, instead of Christian imagery, it held images of different realms. Of course, you had no idea what any of them were, and the swirling runes placed along the side of each painting didn’t clue you in to anything. You simply looked up at them, admiring the beautiful artwork as you rested.

In fact, you didn’t quite notice that you had drifted off to sleep until you felt something moving your shoulder quickly. You squeaked, moving to cover yourself, expecting to see Loki when you opened your eyes. You didn’t. Instead you saw Dana, biting her lip, a deep red blush on her cheeks. “Come on, get up!” She said to you in a rushed tone. With a groggy sigh, you shook your head a bit, sitting up slowly and starting to stretch, watching Dana move off to get the clothes that you had tossed across the floor.

“How’s it going with Steve?” You hummed quietly, grabbing a towel from a nearby stand. Dana froze slightly, her shoulders shivering for the slightest of moments before she gave a happy sigh.

“It’s been one of the best nights of my entire life, (Name)… At least until Loki decided to come and interrupt our cuddling session.”

You giggled quietly, drying yourself off and trying to wake yourself up simultaneously, “Are you sure that you two were just cuddling?” You inquired with a rather teasing tone.

Dana looked at you, as if she was slightly confused by your question before she understood, her blush growing hotter, and a stutter forcing its way into her usually perfect speech, “N-No! I-I… W-We…. N-nothing like that! Not… Not then…” She trailed off, chewing on her bottom lip, tossing your clothes at you and huffing before blurting, “Well, we weren’t even officially started! We were transitioning from cuddling to… Yeah.” She finished lamely, looking down at her feet.

You gasped quietly, that being enough to wake you up considerably, “No way! Please tell me you actually had your dress on!”

Dana laughed quietly, “It was one of his t-shirts. I was wearing it when they first brought me in here, and I was able to keep it with me.” She paused to think, “Come to think of it, I think that’s what made Steve completely unable to stop touching my legs…”

You blushed softly, laughing very quietly as you got dressed. You glanced at her, seeing the dress she wore, which definitely looked as if it was just thrown on. She wasn’t even wearing her usual corset. You smirked slightly, sliding your own dress over your head. “So… I assume Loki sent you?”

She nodded, “He didn’t want to invade your privacy, or something. Which is sweet, but I definitely know that he’s seen plenty of women without a single piece of clothing on. So… I think you’ve got everything that he’s seen before.”

You blushed softly, throwing a bar of soap at her, watching as it hit the floor and split right down the middle as it hit the ground. “Shut up! I wouldn’t want him seeing me naked! I’m really glad he got you.” You laughed, pulling your hair over one of your shoulders and running your hand through it gently to get all of the knots out. By now, it had mostly dried, which made the extraction of the tangles just a bit easier due to the silkiness of your newly washed hair.

Dana rolled her eyes slowly, shaking her head and starting out the door, “Seeing as you’re partially dressed now and out of the tub, I think I’ll be returning to my boyfriend.” She waved at you, blowing you a friendly kiss, “Sorry you’ll have to stay somewhere else for the night.”

You shrugged slightly, smiling gently at her, “I think you deserve the night alone. But don’t you dare screw on my bed!”

Dana smirked widely at you, telling you over her shoulder before running off, “Too late!”

You watched in horror as she ran off, seriously hoping that she wasn’t serious. Either way, now you’d definitely have to take your sheets down to the laundry room on Leisure Day this weekend. And you most definitely wouldn’t be nice like last time and offer to wash anything for Dana! You pouted slightly, tugging your corset around your waist and tying it loosely, just enough to keep your bodice from shifting in all the wrong directions.

Taking a soft breath, you looked out into Loki’s bedroom, stepping out, half fearing that you were going to take a tongue-lashing.

Instead, Loki simply looked at you, a smirk coming back to his face. You swore that if he kept smirking at you, his lips would get stuck permanently in that position. Even though you knew it was absurd, the amount of smirking he did at you would definitely account to something in the future!

“Did you have a nice bath?”


	19. Chapter 19

You gave Loki a charming smile as you look over at him as one of your hands came up to twists a drying strand of hair about your fingertips. An idea came suddenly to your head, perhaps brought on by your newfound pride towards Loki, or even the cold bath you had. You spoke coolly, moving to take a seat nest to him. An idea popped into your head just then, looking quietly at his lips.

They were a soft pink, tilted up naturally at the corners. You giggled quietly to yourself, wondering what shape they would become when he was too shocked for words.

You looked back up into his eyes, still twirling your hair. Loki’s gaze wandered over your face, his eyes shimmering softly with unfulfilled curiosity. You smiled brilliantly at Loki, “It was quite… Relaxing, in a way.”

Loki blinked very slowly at you, perking an interested brow at you. He was quiet for a long time, simply looking you over and thinking of what you had said to him. When he finally spoke, he murmured to you, his hand resting against his cheek. “I bet it was…”

You nodded excitedly, deciding that now would be the best time to put your ‘plan’ into action. With a soft smirk pulling at your lips, you leaned closer to him, putting on your most mysterious voice. “You know, I bet I can make you absolutely speechless in a matter of seconds.”

Loki gave you a soft chuckle, looking over your face with rather intense curiosity. You loved the fact that you could make Loki so curious! It gave you a nice sense of power and importance. “Oh, really now?” He challenged you, looking at you with an intense interest.

“It’ll be extremely shocking and entirely unexpected.” You said in a rather enigmatic manner.

Loki tilted his head slowly, brushing some of his hair from his face. “And tell me, sweet doe. Just what would that be?”

You gave him a large, albeit slightly nervous smile; quickly moving closer to him and placing one of your hands on his shoulder while the other came to rest on his cheek. Before Loki had the chance to say or do anything, you pulled his lips down to yours.

His lips were warm against yours, which was a surprising contrast to how cool the rest of his skin was. Slowly, you moved your lips against his, a soft blush coming to your face when you felt him reciprocating the kiss. You decided to break the kiss for good when his hands came to rest gingerly on your sides. You didn’t want to lead him on too far. You stand up quickly, fixing your skirts, and lifting them up so you could give Loki a low, respectful curtsey, acting as if nothing had happened between the two of you. You look up at him demurely, giving him a completely servile tone, “If you don’t need me for anything, I’ll be going to the library to relax for the night.” You bit the inside of your lip to keep from smiling like the cat that had swallowed the canary at the look Loki was giving you. Turning quickly before your calm, servile demeanour broke. You went over to the door, opening it quickly. Without so much as a glance back at Loki, you started to walk towards the library. As soon as you were far away from Loki’s chambers, a humungous smile broke out across your face, giddy laughter escaping from you. It bubbled up in your throat, coming out in a continuous stream all the way to the library. Covering your mouth to stifle your slightly manic laughter, you walked in to the quiet room, taking in the comforting smell of old books.

Loki’s POV

I sat on the couch, several of my fingertips pressed against my lips. The ghost-like feeling of what had happened just minutes before remained there as strongly as if it was the real thing. I felt her soft, nervous breaths ghost across my cheek as she had come forward, pressing her lips against mine with a sort of nervous determination. I smirked at the memory, feeling her blush heat up her cheeks as soon as I had started to kiss her back. Her lips hadn’t been clumsy; they’d been soft and careful, as if she had practiced many times before.

I looked at the door where she had left through, murmuring to the empty room, “How many have you kissed before, little doe?” Shaking my head, I looked down, letting a small chuckle loose from my lips.

What a little temptress she was. Kissing me so sweetly, before getting up and curtseying like the coy little thing she was. I smiled very slowly at the memory, wishing that I hadn’t been so surprised in the midst of her simple action. I had kissed many women before, with much more fervour and passion. How in the seven realms had I been so thrown off guard? I gave a soft huff, shaking my head and tracing my lips once again.

For what seems like hours I keep dwelling in the memory, replaying everything that had happened, and even turning the memory into several different versions of sordid fantasies. I smirked softly to myself, keeping my hand over my lips, as if to keep the feeling of (Name)’s mouth locked on mine forever. When I came out of my own fantasies, I glanced about the room, curious to see if she had come in once again. I frowned when I saw no one in the room, taking a deep breath and sighing heavily.

“You’re so bold…” I remarked, leaning back on the small couch and titling my head back to gaze at the ceiling. “So… Tempting. And oh so clever, my doe.” I purred, as if I was whispering it in her ear while she curled up against me. I imagined her shivering at the words, squirming slightly as my hands grazed over her body as I spoke to her. I laughed quietly, and (Name) giggled back, pecking at my cheek and murmuring something entirely sarcastic, yet endearing at the same time.

I opened an eye, glancing at the paintings that decorated the ceiling. My eyes settled upon one in particular, of two forbidden lovers seeking solace in one another on one of the many balconies of the palace of Asgard. It was one of my favourite stories, actually. The princess of Asgard at the time was to be married to another noble, but she still went to her lover, to take solace in the fact that they would one day escape to a far away realm. I chuckled quietly, remembering a certain scene in the short story. Perhaps… I paused to think, I could use the story as inspiration?

Then, it just so happened to come to me, an idea so perfect that it would be completely flawless. I laughed very quietly, standing to grab a pen and paper, writing down everything that I could think of.

Dinner…

Dancing…

Kiss me, Loki… I wrote quickly, before crossing it out and smirking widely to myself.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that she’ll be begging for something like that by the end of the night.” I said softly, glancing at myself in the mirror across from where I was sitting, “You’re so extremely clever, Loki. The most clever thing of them all.”

Your POV

The next morning, you were able to take a break from doing your daily chores, as you and Dana were scheduled for Leisure Day. You knocked on the door to your bedroom, smiling when Dana opened the door, a giant and cheery smile on her face. She looked absolutely radiant today, and even though her hair was tangled and frizzy, she looked like the prettiest people in the world.

Steve came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and putting his chin on her shoulder, smiling happily when Dana’s hand came up to pet the side of Steve’s head. He smiled at you as well, humming before he kissed her cheek. “Morning, (Name). Hope you didn’t mind us taking over the room last night.”

Dana blushed softly, before laughing very softly and leaning back against Steve. “Yeah… Sorry.”

You shrugged slowly, looking over the two of them quietly, “Nah, it’s totally okay. I mean, you two haven’t seen each other for a long time. I kinda figured that the two of you would want to be completely alone for one night.” You stopped, laughing and glancing back towards the library, “The couches in the library were really comfy, actually.”

Dana blinked, “You slept in the library? Damn, not even in the old room we used to sleep in?”

You shook your head, “I found a really good book, and I just kinda passed out. So it was okay.” You pointed your thumb over your shoulder, hearing the sound of other maids that worked in the palace chattering away in the hallway near your room. “It’s Leisure Day for the both of us. You need to wash anything?”

Dana nodded, humming, “And I need to shorten my sleeves. I can’t stand it when they get all wet.” She turned to kiss Steve gently, humming, “I’ll do that later though. First we should all have breakfast, I’m hungry.”

You smirked widely at her, feeling as if you were channelling Loki with the size of your smirk, “I bet you are.”

Dana blushed heavily, swatting at your arm and turning to bury her face against Steve’s chest. “Hush! I can’t help I think my boyfriend is so damn attractive!”

You giggled quietly, smiling sweetly at her, “I’m not blaming you!”

Steve rolled his eyes, turning and grabbing a brush from the chest at the end of Dana’s bed, and pulling the small brush through her blue strands. You nearly melted and made strange noises at the utter cuteness of the situation as Steve gingerly brushed Dana’s hair as she huddled close to him. You squeaked, putting your hands over your mouth and managing to say in a voice several octaves higher than normal, “That’s so cute…”

Steve laughed softly and went to using his fingers to comb gently through her hair, “It calms her down. And she hates brushing her hair, she more or less forces me to do it every so often.”

You heard Dana laugh, lifting her head up to say to him, “No, I don’t force you. You do it because you love me.”

Steve rolled his eyes playfully, kissing her forehead and murmuring to her, “I love you too. But I thought you wanted breakfast, doll.”

You nodded, smirking slightly, “And I can’t carry three plates by myself. Somebody’s gotta come with me!” Dana huffed, sighing and kissing Steve quickly before telling him to be good, before turning and standing next to you. “Let’s go.” You smiled at her, starting off towards the kitchens to find some food.

Dana smiled to herself as the two of you walked, her hands constantly going to her face to run over her lips, as if those kisses they had shared from the night before were the first kisses that they’d ever shared. You glanced over at Dana, smiling at how she was acting. She was blissfully quiet, and you felt that the air around her had become much lighter. Before, even if she wasn’t acting upset, you could always feel that there was something off, something troubling that she was hiding away from the world. You were immensely glad that your friend had finally found peace.

“I’m really surprised that the two of you did all that stuff. I always thought Steve would have wanted to wait until you were married.” You mused, entering the kitchen, finding it slightly emptier than usual.

Dana nodded slowly, giving you a smile as she wandered off to the side to look for silverware, talking as she looked, “He used to, but then he came to the realisation that he might never get to marry me, with the work he did. And, since he didn’t want to lose another girl because he waited too long… He just kinda said, ‘fuck it’.”

You giggled softly, nodding, “Quite literally, huh?”

Dana gave a soft, nearly dreamy sigh, nodding and picking up three forks. “Yep… Quite literally. I also think you’d be surprised that he has a pretty dirty mouth once he’s alone with somebody he really trusts. Which just makes it funny when he got on Tony for casually cussing.”

You blinked, looking over at her, “Really? Like, is it just a few well-placed curse words?”

Your friend shrugged, laughing, “A little more than that, actually. Especially when we watch TV shows and he gets really surprised.” She came back over, reaching into a pantry to pull out three plates. She glanced at you, sighing happily, “He’s absolutely perfect though… I’ve had really shitty relationships in the past, you know? Almost to the point where I felt I couldn’t actually be myself because I was afraid I’d get taken advantage of.” She chewed on her lower lip, a brief flash of sadness mixed with hot anger running across her eyes. “But then I found Steve, and I can actually be who I am without being afraid of him doing that!” She laughed, looking off to the side as she remembered something; “Sometimes I actually think I scare him a little with how passionate I can be when it comes to being with him.”

You gave an amused laugh, nodding, “I’ll definitely take your word for it. But, I’ve heard he’s pretty passionate and protective too.”

Dana nodded, wandering off to bring over some food that had been made a bit ago, “You want an omelette?” She asked, watching you nod before going to get a carton of eggs, milk, cheese, and some other vegetables. It was pretty awesome to you that she remembered exactly what you liked in your omelette, even though she’d only made it once for you a long time ago.

After she started cooking, she went back to what the two of you had originally been talking about. “He is. We were at the grocery store a while back, and he walked off to find some ice cream, and came back just as a guy started to flirt with me. I didn’t have the chance to tell him I was already with somebody before Steve pulled me over to him and kissed me, and, the icing on the cake, Steve looked over at the guy and just kinda growled, ‘She’s mine. Back off.’”

You laughed loudly, watching Dana join in, a blush coming to her cheeks as she cooked omelettes. You helped her clean as she went, taking away the cracked eggshells and sweeping away the parts of vegetables she wasn’t going to use, dumping them into the waste bin.

“That’s… Damn.” You said simply, standing next to her and tugging at the sleeve of the shirt she was wearing. Under it, she had on leggings, which she normally wore with her dress, especially since it was starting to get a little colder now. “I wish I had somebody like that.” You hummed, looking off to the side, imagining the perfect boyfriend in your head.

Dana smirked at you, raising a brow at you as she flipped the omelette over inside of the pan, “If you continue seducing Loki, you’ll have someone even more possessive.”

You gawked at her, making a soft strangled noise, becoming speechless. Dana simply tapped your nose with her index finger, turning back to finish off the omelettes. She put them all on plates, moving off to grab some other stuff and put all the pans into the large sink. You stuck your tongue out at her as she turned back to face you, picking up her plate, as well as Steve’s. You picked up yours, and grabbing a bowl of cut up strawberries. You knew Dana adored strawberries, and so did you.

Dana walked beside you as the both of you headed back to the bedroom. “I want him to marry me.” She said after the both of you were halfway back to the room. “And good lord, I want to have his kids. And I don’t even like kids.”

You nodded, smiling softly at her before becoming curious as to why she didn’t like kids. “Why don’t you like them? If that’s not too personal of a question.”

She shrugged, pausing to look at you, “Nah, it’s okay. I’ve been asked that ever since I first told people about that. It’s just… I feel uncomfortable around them. Like if I don’t do something right when I’m taking care of them, they’ll get really sick or hurt… And I don’t trust myself to remember to feed fish! That, and I feel like I have too short of a temper to deal with kids.” She paused to laugh, “I’m mostly afraid that I’ll throw a temper tantrum along with them.”

You nodded quietly, “I don’t think that’s true. I think you’d be a really good mother. And you wouldn’t be on your own, if you felt yourself getting stressed out or upset I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that Steve would step in and take control.”

She nodded, smiling softly, “Yeah. But I’ve gotten used to doing everything on my own. I’m still trying to convince myself of that.” She shrugged, giving you a large, toothy smile, “But thank you. If we ever get out of here, and we live a normal life again, I totally want you around.” She smiled even wider, an excited look on her face, “You can come to our wedding! And you can be my firstborn’s godmother!”

You matched her radiant smile with your own, wishing that you could hug her. “That would be amazing!”

X

Later that afternoon, you found the three of you down in the laundry room, standing next to Dana as she washed her dresses, scrubbing them down. Steve was helping the both of you, volunteering to have the two of you to soap everything up and scrub away at anything you wanted before he washed them out for you. For most of the time, you listened to their playful banter, giggling at some of the outrageous things that they would say in utter playfulness. During one point in the conversation, Dana started laughing so hard she had to stop her washing, and brace herself on the edge of the large tub that she was using, wiping at her eyes and holding her sides. Steve looked over her at you, watching you laugh before patting his girlfriend’s head. He had looked back over at you, laughing as he said, “Are you enjoying this? This is essentially how we talk all the time.”

You smiled widely, feeling slightly loopy from how much you were laughing. “That’s awesome.”

Dana had finally braced herself, taking in deep breaths and leaning heavily against Steve, looking at you before sitting up very straight, and suddenly going extremely quiet. Steve did as well, his carefree expression turning into a steely anger, his eyes hardening. You blinked, wondering why the two had tensed so suddenly. It wasn’t like you had said anything to offend them. You turned, looking over your shoulder, seeing a guard standing in the doorway. Immediately, you stiffened, moving in front of the two of them, as if you would protect them if the guard tried to do something to them.

The guard ignored Steve and Dana, looking straight over at you, “I have a message from the king, (Name).” He addressed you, staying in the doorway.

You blinked slowly, a slight fear rising in the pit of your stomach. What possibly could he want with you? Was he angry about what you had done the night before? You sure hoped not. “What is it?” You asked, your voice filled with more fear than you wanted to show off.

“He wishes you to meet him in his chambers tonight, dressed nicely. There is a dress he has specifically ordered you to wear, and it has been placed in your room.” The guard said, turning on his heel as soon as his message was complete. You were left there in a state of confusion, wondering exactly what you would be doing with Loki. It sounded as if he wanted you to have dinner with him, the fact that he was giving you a dress very much reminding you of that one scene in the first Pirates of The Caribbean. You shuddered slightly, turning back to look at the other two. They both regarded you with intense looks of curiosity.

“What in the world was that about?” They asked in perfect unison.

You shook your head slowly, looking back at the dress you had been scrubbing away at, reaching back into the soapy water to retrieve it and continue your work, “I have absolutely no clue.” You stated simply, chewing on the inside of your lip.

What in the world have I just gotten into? you thought.


	20. Chapter 20

As you returned to your room, you felt your gut twisting in multiple directions. Your hands rested at your belly, your eyes filled with anxiety. 

_What does he want with me?_ Your thoughts rang about your head, your fear increasing every time you asked yourself such a thing. You were so caught up in your mental reverie that you completely walked past your bedroom door, ending up at the end of a hallway you had never explored before. Your curiosity piqued, and for a moment you forgot about Loki and what he might want with you. You approached a door that resembled the door of Steve’s cell, and you swore you could feel something just beyond the door. Without thinking, you reached towards the handle, your palm meeting the cool metal. Your wrist started to turn the handle, but you were pulled away from the door completely when Dana called out your name, and it was obvious that she was looking for you. 

“Coming!” You called back, still distracted by the mysterious door. What was behind it? You were practically dying to know. But you couldn’t open it now, not when you had promised you’d return to where Dana was. 

Picking up your skirt, you headed back in the direction of your bedroom. When you returned, you saw Dana standing at the edge of your bed, looking at the dress Loki had sent to you. 

You were right. As you came over to see it you bit your lip hard, unsure of what to expect. 

It had a deep v-neckline, the fabric sewn in a way that would allow it to flow down your torso and legs. To keep the waistline visible, there was a decorative silver-thread rope that would wind around your waist several times before being tied off. The dress itself looked as if gold metal had been wound into fine thread and made into a delicate fabric. You ran your hand down the material, surprised at how odd it felt under your fingertips. It was not smooth or rough, but it shifted and flowed freely under your fingers like silk. When you picked it up it swirled and danced about as elegantly as draped chiffon. 

Loki wanted you to wear this? It was absolutely gorgeous, why would he want you to wear such a thing? You took in a nervous breath, looking the dress over once again. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it before.” You finally whispered out after long moments of silence. 

Dana shook her head, reaching out to touch it gently, her head tilted curiously to one side, “It must be Asgardian or something.” She said, glancing at you, “Lucky you…”

You gave her a barely evident smile, swallowing thickly, “Yep. Lucky me.” You said in a rather hushed tone. 

X

The dress felt too heavy but way too light at the same time. You stood in the bathroom, fiddling with the straps of the sleeveless bodice, twisting your (colour) hair through your fingers. You had taken a bath just before this, and had carefully twisted strands of your hair up so that when they dried they’d have a curl to them. You had even gone as far as to put on eyeliner, since you thought you looked a little too plain for the dress without it. 

_Might as well try to look nice, even with impending doom looming over my shoulders. At least then I’ll look good._ You thought sarcastically, huffing as your lifted the billowing skirts up so you could walk without tripping all over yourself. 

Exiting the bathroom, you glanced over at Dana and Steve, who were curled up on the rug, simply looking at each other and talking quietly. 

“You should have gone with that patriotic dye job you found on Pinterest.” Steve murmured, tapping Dana’s nose softly with the tip of his index finger. 

She shook her head, giving him a quiet, sweet giggle, “Nah, too much work. And I’ve always loved how blue hair looked on me.” She glanced up at you, noticing that you were moving quietly towards the door, not wanting to interrupt the sweet moment they were having together. “You look really nice in that dress…” She said, sitting up slightly, giving you an encouraging look, “Good luck, darling.”

You gave her a wobbly, nervous smile, nodding at her in silent thanks before you started down the long hallway. Your heart pounded in your chest, and your stomach fluttered uncontrollably. 

_Loki’s POV_

I sat quietly in a chair, dressed in dark clothing that showed off my status as a king. Atop my head was a simple circlet of small emeralds and gold wire, nestled in the soft waves of my raven hair. I watched the door to the servant’s entrance with attentive eyes, knowing she would come through that way. She always did. 

As soon as I saw the handle start to turn I sat up a little straighter, an excited smirk starting to play on my features. I watched as the door opened, the smirk that was displayed so proudly on my lips dropping completely as soon as I saw her. 

_Gorgeous._ Was all I could bring to mind, my gaze wandering over her several times before I could look her in the eyes. She looked nervous, her beautiful (eye colour) orbs guarded and incredibly cautious. 

Was she really so afraid of me? Of what she thought I would do to her? A twinge of guilt made its way through my body, causing me to cast my gaze guiltily off to the side, a frown pulling the corners of my lips down. 

I spoke softly to her, making it clear that I had no malicious intentions in store for the night, “You look quite wonderful in that dress, doe.” I looked back over, trying to give her a smile. It felt strange, feeling both sides of my mouth pull up wider than an acute slope. (Name) looked up at me, smiling back and moving the fabric about with her hands. 

“The dress is really pretty. Where’s it from?” She asked, focusing on the golden hue of the fabric as it shifted in the flickering candlelight. 

I hummed, motioning upwards towards the sky, “Asgard. It’s woven from pure gold.” I stood slowly, feeling dark compared to (Name)’s shimmering radiance. I came to her, trying to project an air of calm, which seemed to work, as she looked up into my eyes like she usually did. 

“Is King Loki doting on me?” She mused, a corner of her mouth quirking up slightly. I chuckled, secretly lavishing in the fact that she had said my name. It didn’t please me to hear her constantly call me by an official title, even if I did ask her to do so. 

I nodded, holding out a hand to her, my other coming to rest at my back. “Yes, doe, I do believe I am.” I smiled inwardly when she took my hand, the warmth of her skin radiating all the way up my arm. I pressed a very small, gentle kiss upon her knuckles, my eyes flicking up to meet hers as I did so. Her lips parted very slightly, her pretty skin darkening with a tinge of pink. I stayed there a little longer than I meant to, slowly pulling away when I felt her fingers start to move. I laced her fingers through mine slowly, tugging her gently towards the balcony. 

Her curiosity was palpable, and I smiled to myself, stopping just before the doors that lead outside. I gave her a real smile this time, quite excited to see her reaction at what I had planned for the evening. She smiled back very slowly, brushing her hair over her shoulders and looking across my face. “I hope you enjoy this, doe. I spent quite a bit of time planning this.” 

She blushed harder, gasping quietly and trying to look into the balcony, “What is it? I’m… I’m really curious.” She murmured, tilting her head. I fought the urge to lean down and kiss her as she bit her bottom lip, her teeth pulling the soft skin back and forth. 

I gave a quiet sigh, running my thumb across her knuckles, reaching to open the large doors behind me. “You’ll see, sweet doe.” 

I led her out to the balcony, making a small sweeping motion with an arm at the setup. It was a small circular table, set up with two chairs, and filled with a few plates of food. Candles were dotted around the entire balcony, lighting up the space with a soft, warm glow. The light from the candles made (Name) look like Freja. 

I took in a small breath, saying very quietly without thinking, “It seems as if my doe has turned into a Valkyrie…” I stepped closer to her, letting a hand trail over her arm softly and looking down at her with wide pupils. I wanted to kiss her. 

But would she want to kiss me?

I sighed very softly, wrapping my hand and gripping her forearm gently and pulling her towards me. She looked up at me with wide eyes; with such a sweet and innocent look that I almost couldn’t believe that it was real. “What did you call me?” She asked, tilting her head up to look me in the eyes as I stood over her, debating on if I should kiss her or not. 

“My Valkyrie.” I said, laughing very quietly and scanning her face, my other hand absentmindedly going to play with a lock of her hair, “You remind me of Freja, goddess of beauty and love. However, I must dare say that you look much more radiant to me than she ever did.”

(Name) gasped, covering her mouth with her delicate hand, looking at me as if I had cursed someone to Helheim, “I… I don’t think that you should be saying I’m prettier than the goddess of beauty! Won’t she… Throw thunderbolts at us?”

I laughed quite loudly, tipping my head back, feeling my shoulders move up and down with the force of my laughter. “I fear, sweet Valkyrie, that Freja is not the one who would throw thunderbolts at us. That kind of thing would be better suited to my brother.” 

Her cheeks turned the shade of dark roses at my nickname, and she shook her head, waving me off as if to dismiss me. I gave her a small, airy chuckle, catching her waving hand and bringing it up to my lips to kiss again, somewhat satiating my overwhelming desire to press my lips against hers in the most desirous manner possible. I took in a deep breath as I did so, smiling as I caught the sweet, subtle scent of the soap she used in the bath. 

(Name) bit her lip slowly, watching me with a curious gaze, raising her voice to speak to me after a bit of silence, “You’re being so… Romantic. I didn’t expect that from you.”

Looking up at her, I hummed softly, standing up straight and moving to pull out a chair for her, moving to sit in my own after she sat. I lifted my gaze towards her, lacing my hands together and resting my chin on them. “To be quite honest, my dear, that little kiss you gave me left me craving much more from you.” I took a long sigh, letting my gaze drift off to the side, eyeing the natural shape of the balcony’s stone masonry. “Of course, I assume the kiss was simply to tease me, not because you have any sort of feelings for me.”

I turned, using a small tendril of magic to lift up a bottle of wine and pour it into two crystal chalices on either side of the table. Turning my attention back on to (Name), I saw her shake her head, immediately going to correct my assumptions. 

“I… I don’t know what I feel, My… Loki.” She started, blushing at how the last two words of her sentence sounded as if she had called me hers. I gave her a soft smile, tilting my head very slowly, knowing that she wasn’t quite done speaking yet. She closed her eyes for a moment, biting her bottom lip and tugging on it with her teeth, as if she was stopping to remember the kiss. “I know I kissed you because I wanted to… Prove that I could make you speechless. But… I…” She stopped, sputtering and trying to find a way to form her next sentence. “I enjoyed the kiss.” She blurted finally, before looking straight down at her lap. 

“Did you really?” I found myself purring, leaning closer and looking across her face. Lifting up the crystal glass, I took a long sip, feeling a small drop bead on my bottom lip. (Name) glanced up just as my tongue darted out to swipe it away, “I’m glad.” I finished coolly. 

(Name) looked at her own glass, picking it up and swirling the dark liquid around inside of the glass experimentally. “I’ve never actually had nice wine before.” 

“You haven’t? My, you’re missing out. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.” I said, taking another sip and motioning for her to do the same. (Name) did so slowly, lifting it to her lips and letting the liquid drift into her mouth. She took a small sip, letting it rest on her tongue for a moment. She swallowed it quickly, taking another sip. This time, it was quite a bit longer. 

I felt a bubble of amused laughter drift up from my throat, my eyes crinkling at the sides in humour, “Ah, I see I was right.”

(Name) rolled her eyes playfully, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she cooed, “For once.” 

With a shocked gasp, I set my chalice down, looking at her with wide eyes, “You coy little thing! I’m always right.”

(Name) wrinkled her nose playfully, leaning forward in her seat, resting both of her hands on the table with palms facing down. “Are you?”

I nodded curtly, crossing my arms across my chest, giving her a rather challenging look. An eyebrow perked up, my eyes flashing with interest at what she was about to do. She always had something up her sleeve when she looked at me like that. I was rather eager to find out what that was. 

“Yes, I am.”

She giggled quietly, shrugging and looking over the balcony, taking a moment to admire the lights of the city in the distance. “I beg to differ.” She sang, taking another sip from her glass and humming in gentle pleasure. 

I scoffed quietly, looking off to where she was, “Do you? Are you so sure to think that you should do such a thing?”

She gave a small nod, looking at me out of the corner of her eye, “I don’t _think_ that I could do such a thing. I _know_ that I can do such a thing.” She teased, leaning back languidly in her chair. I sighed inwardly, wishing that I were the one that she would lean languidly against. 

Particularly after the taxing events of making love. 

The thought brought a smirk to my lips, and I found myself staring at her once again, which gained her attention. “Yeah?” She asked, watching my eyes carefully. 

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking of things, my Valkyrie.”

“Are you not going to call me a doe anymore?” She pouted slightly, “I was just getting used to having you call me that. I rather… Liked it. It was sweet.” She chirped, her eyes wandering over my face. “But I was always wanting to have a nickname to call you as well.” 

I laughed, “And what would you propose to call me?”

She shrugged slowly, tipping her head off to the side and giving a long sigh, “I don’t know, I’m not that inventive at the moment, Loki…”

“I love how you say my name.” I said quickly, without realising the words were coming from my mouth. 

She paused completely, her mouth opening a bit more, before the deep rose coloured blush came back in full force on her cheeks. “Do you… _Loki_?” She added, the very subtlest purr in her voice. 

Damn the girl, she was teasing me again. 

I stood slowly, looking at her directly, pausing to reach a hand towards her. “Yes. Now come, dance with me. I don’t find myself to be hungry as of yet.” 

She gave me a confused look, before standing and coming over quickly, the dress of the skirt flowing about her legs. “And how will you dance with me, Loki?” She looked up at me, coming close enough so that I could feel her body’s warmth radiating from her. 

In response, I took her hands, placing one of her hands on my shoulder, while I held the other one high. My right hand slid around her back, resting quite low. I stepped close to her, murmuring, “My dancing instructor always said that I could never be more than one hundred page widths away from my partner.”

(Name) nodded slowly, taking a quick glance down at my chest to observe how close I was to her. “I’ve heard… I’ve always heard something similar.”

I chuckled low in my throat, looking down at her. “Have you? I’m pleased you know how to dance.”

She shook her head slowly, “Not too well. I learned when I was younger; I was forced to, really. I’ll probably trip over your feet because I’ll forget how to move properly.” 

“Then I’ll catch you, and I’ll move slowly at first.” I purred softly, my fingertips tracing small circles against her back. She shivered slightly, her eyelids dropping down until she was looking at me with half-lidded eyes. 

“I hope that you do…” She sighed, squeaking as I started to slide my foot forward, instantly moving backwards. I kept her close, moving as slowly as I felt that I needed to. 

For a while, I kept the same pace, keeping my gaze locked upon (Name)’s. She looked up at me, her look still innocent. 

Slowly, I felt myself leaning downwards. The temptation of kissing her was growing much too strongly to resist. I had to. 

So I did. Placing my lips against hers, I stopped the simple swaying back and forth, using the hand at her back to press her torso against mine firmly. I kissed her deeply, pressing my lips against hers with all the passion that I felt in that moment. I groaned in absolute joy when I felt her lips push back, the hand at my shoulder moving to snake into my hair, tugging very softly at the strands. She pulled away sooner than I would have liked, but it was clear she needed to take a few moments to breathe before she lost herself. I found myself panting as well, practically cooing at her as I attempted to catch my breath, “My Valkyrie, you’ve taken me to Valhalla.”


	21. Chapter 21

Your POV

“My Valkyrie, you’ve taken me to Valhalla.” The same words echoed over and over in your head, watching Loki’s face soften completely as he gazed down at you. In his face you saw a kind of tenderness that you never thought Loki could show. You swallowed quickly, remembering all of the terrible, unkind things you had thought about him originally.

You had accused him of being heartless, a womanizer… And now, as you looked up into his eyes, which were practically screaming their affection for you, you realised how silly you had been in thinking all of those things.

And you finally came to realise that Loki only did the things he did to protect himself from getting hurt. You saw in his eyes the almost childlike hopefulness that you might reciprocate the affection he had for you. You saw the fear that danced in the shadow of his pupils. And you saw a deep kind of love that only those who have lived a thousand years could know.

Loki was willingly bearing his true self to you, and trusting you not to hurt him.

Giving out a cry, tears started to well up in your eyes, and you flung yourself into Loki’s arms. You cried openly, babbling at him, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know who you really, truly were…” You paused, trying to catch your breath, tears streaming down your cheeks. Loki wiped at hem quickly, making gentle hushing noises at you so he could try and calm you.

“I want to love you, Loki…” You said breathlessly, staring up at him with wide, glistening eyes. “I want to make you happy…”

Loki gave you a smile, pressing a soft kiss on your lips as he murmured with all of the feeling in the world, “Then love me, my sweet Valkyrie. Any way that you wish.”

You smiled softly, pressing your forehead against his gently, sighing very quietly and wrapping your arms around his waist. You kissed him again, squeaking softly when his hands brushed up your sides. You shivered slightly, giving the quietest of gasps when his thumbs grazed the sides of your breasts. You kissed him deeper in that instant, your mouth opening slightly. He took that as a chance to slip his tongue into your mouth, his hands moving to fiddle with the rope tied about your waist.

With a soft hum, you took his hands, leading them behind you to undo the simple know you had tied at your back. He undid the golden rope swiftly, leading the two ends back around you so that he could pull it from you. As he was doing so, he led you back inside, his hands never leaving you. You pulled away slowly, panting as you looked up at him.

“Do you want me to sleep with you, Loki?” You asked, rather timid at the prospect. You glanced towards his bed, blushing heavily. You definitely weren’t going to refuse him if he wanted you. Especially since you knew that he actually loved and cared for you now, and that he wouldn’t leave you the moment he was done with you.

He hummed very quietly, nodding slowly and leaning down to kiss you, “I do, my Valkyrie.” He leaned down to kiss presses across your neck, eyeing his bed quietly before asking you, “I can already tell you want me as well.”

You laughed very softly, kissing him and tugging yourself away from his arms, jumping onto his bed and rolling across it, your dress flying about in the air as you sprawled across the large mattress, “Mmm, you’d be right!” You sighed cutely, making a show of stretching and wriggling around on the mattress. You heard Loki groan, coming over to crawl onto the bed next to you, his touch stilling you immediately. You looked up at him innocently, watching his hand slide up your leg very slowly. You shuddered as he made his way up your thigh, lifting up your knee and placing a small kiss on it, pressing his cheek against your kneecap as he lifted your skirt up. You blushed very heavily as he pushed the large amount of fabric above your hips, his eyes happily trailing over your body.

He licked his lips slowly, before moving to kiss up your thigh, gasping when he pulled off your panties, tossing them over his shoulder and letting his lips trail very softly across your hipbone. You sighed quietly, humming and feeling your legs parting almost immediately as his mouth paused right above your core. “Are you a virgin, my dear?” He asked you, his deep green eyes looking up at you curiously as his hands rubbed at your hips very gently.

You shook your head slowly, one of your hands reaching down and tugging on a stray strand of his silky hair, “I’m not that innocent, Loki.” You smirked, laughing very softly and sitting up, moving to kiss him again, straddling his lap and wrapping your legs around his hips.

You giggled just a bit harder at the look of shock that appeared on his face, his lips forming a small ‘o’ shape, and the both of his eyebrows lifting. His voice deepened as he looked at you, his arms settling about your waist, “I can see that, little doe.” His eyes glimmered at you, humming, “However, whatever partners you’ve ever taken into your bed will be long forgotten quite soon.”

Blushing slightly harder than before, you reached for the hem of your dress, tugging it over your head slowly and pushing the rippling fabric aside. You hummed, trailing your hand down his chest and murmured in a rather brazen fashion, “As will yours. I’m gonna be the only name you’re going to remember.”

Loki gave a short laugh, stroking your cheeks affectionately before tugging at the hooks on your bra. He got a confused look on his face for a moment when the hooks wouldn’t snap apart. “I…” He huffed, looking up at you expectantly, as if you were the only one who could actually take off your bra.

“What?” You teased, “Can a god not figure out how to unsnap a Midgardian lady’s bra?”

Loki rolled his eyes, before laughing, “No! Apparently I can’t.” He got a certain glint in his eye before grabbing the centre panel and snapping it like it was just a couple of threads. You gasped rather loudly, watching as Loki pushed the destroyed piece of lingerie off of your shoulders. He kissed your collarbone gently, nipping at the sensitive flesh that was at the very base of your neck.

In that moment, you forgot to breathe, looking at Loki as he kissed along the both of your shoulders, his hands running over every inch of skin that he could reach. You couldn’t help yourself from shuddering at all of his touches, especially considering that his hands were as cool as they were. Taking a deep breath, you reached forward to undo the simple leather armour he wore, happy that you were so well versed in taking off his clothes. “It seems that you making me take off your clothes for your baths paid off.” Loki laughed low in his throat, nuzzling you as you proceeded to take off his shirt. You hummed happily; rolling your hips experimentally and hearing him gasp happily, his lips turning upwards in a pleasured smile.

“Oh, Valkyrie…” He cooed softly, moving so that he could roll his hips back against yours. You moaned very softly in his ear, resting your head on his shoulder and placing kisses at his neck. He moaned back at you, shifting so that he could take off his pants, tugging them off quickly and tossing them to the side. You tugged him down so that he was kneeling over you, your knees placed on either side of his hips.

Loki smiled down at you sweetly, kissing down your chest and placing love bites over your torso, before he was back between your legs again. You blushed heavily, watching him as his tongue darted out, lapping at your clit very slowly. You outright moaned at the simple action, shivering happily and moving your legs apart even further, wanting him to continue. He did so happily, his tongue giving longer and more substantial licks, focusing on your little bundle of nerves for quite a bit before he allowed it to delve into you. You covered your mouth to stifle the pleasured scream that came from you at that, eagerly rolling your hips forward to feel more of him. He held your hips close to his mouth, his tongue moving against you.

“Oh… Oh, god!” You yelped out happily, your hands gripping at the sheets. You heard Loki stifle a chuckle, continuing to use his tongue on you. You moaned happily, feeling your orgasm quickly approaching. When it did, it came hard, your vision clouding with stars. You kept gasping softly, your chest rising and falling quickly as Loki came back up to hold you gently. He kissed all over your face, smiling at the pleased look that settled open his features. You purred softly at him, rolling him over so that you were straddling him once again. You didn’t directly sit down on him, instead hovering just above him so that you could tease him. You ran your fingertips over his chest, tracing soft patterns and sighing happily, letting your fingernails graze over his chest. He shuddered at the feel of your nails, his eyelids fluttering and closing slowly.

He purred at you softly, smirking as he kept his eyes closed. “Keep going, my Valkyrie…”

You smiled softly, blushing heavily and glancing down at what was between his legs. You moaned very softly at the sight of it, wondering if he would actually fit all the way inside of you. You bit your lip, moving your fingertips downwards, trailing over the small trail of hair that ran from his belly button down. He hummed softly as you did so, a small groan coming from his lips when you wrapped your small hand around his length. Stroking it up and down a few times, you positioned yourself over him, guiding yourself down onto him slowly and gently, biting your lip as your walls were stretched for the first time in a rather long time.

It didn’t take too long for you to adjust though, and you were sliding yourself down on him just a bit faster before you knew it. You wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t hurt yourself with him. You’d never actually ridden a guy before, so you were a little uncertain in how to react.

But holy fucking shit did it feel good. You moaned sweetly and loudly before you were even halfway down his length, rolling your hips slowly, feeling the tip of his cock brush against a sweet spot along your walls. You put your hands on either side of his chest, tipping your head down and letting your hair drop over your face, shuddering happily as you worked your way down his length.

Loki moaned along with you at the feeling of your walls clenching with the pleasure that just a couple of inches his cock brought to you. He watched you writhe against him, resisting the urge to buck his hips upwards and bury himself as far as he could go within you. He held your hips, guiding you down slowly, brushing your hair back and kissing your forehead, his head returning to the pillows quickly to let out another moan. He adored the feel of you, even more so than he had first imagined.

You definitely didn’t feel like the other girls, you felt extremely pleasurable, so much so that Loki felt as if he would reach his release in a couple more seconds, especially if you kept clenching like that. He groaned loudly, locking his lips against yours as you finally fit him completely inside of you. You shuddered happily, the slightest movement sending the tip of his cock brushing against places that made you see stars. You bit his lip gently, tugging on it and humming sweetly, letting your torso rest against his, purring when his hands came to cup your breasts, his thumbs lazily grazing over your hardened nipples. You took a deep breath, starting to lift your hips up slowly and nearly screaming from how wonderful it felt. Loki’s eyes widened quite a bit, gasping before he matched the volume of your moan. You kissed him again, barely able to make your hips keep moving from the amount of pleasure that you were receiving. Loki helped you with that, guiding you up his length until just the tip was left inside of you.

He moved you back down much quicker this time, your core dripping with arousal, allowing him to slide in and out of you with ease. You resigned to having your torso resting against his, your forehead pressed against the mattress as Loki guided your hips. You put in an effort here in there, but mostly resigned to feeling the pleasure that made your entire body start to shake.

You felt your orgasm building up very quickly, the lovely, slick friction of his cock against your walls driving you absolutely insane. You couldn’t help from screaming in happiness, your voice definitely much higher than it normally was. In your head you sounded exactly like a hard-core porn actress, your moans so raunchy that you swore you could see Loki starting to blush.

“Yes, my love… Let the entire palace know…” Loki groaned loudly, kissing you deeply and letting his tongue dance with yours as he started to move you very quickly up and down his length.

You sighed happily, a high-pitched squeal coming from you when he rolled his hips in a way that nearly made your voice give out. You were completely breathless in just a handful of moments after that.

And it wasn’t much longer until you were riding out your orgasm, burying your face into the mattress so that you wouldn’t deafen Loki with your screams of utter ecstasy. Your legs gave out from under you when you felt Loki’s orgasm come just seconds after yours, his seed spilling deep inside of you. You shuddered happily at the feeling, your limbs completely useless to you at the moment. Loki was the one who had to move you, pulling you gently off of him and sliding you to the side, pulling you so close to him that you could feel even the slightest of shifts from his muscles.

“Loki…” You sighed quietly, your eyelids drooping and your chest heaving, trying to find your breath. “Loki…” You repeated softly, as if you were praying to him.

He smiled gently, brushing a few strands of hair that were sticking to your face away, pressing a soft kiss at your temple and nipping playfully at your bottom lip, “Yes, dear?”

You smiled softly, running your hands over his chest slowly and purring quietly to yourself, “My Loki.”

Loki sighed sweetly, a large smile splitting his lips as he hugged you to him, “My Valkyrie.”

After a long while, you finally regained enough energy to lift up your head, settling it on his shoulder and tracing swirls across his chest, kissing his shoulder lazily every so often. “Oh I love you…” You murmured, giggling quietly and wrapping a leg about his hips, blushing as you saw yourself in the mirror across the room. Loki glanced over towards the mirror, laughing very quietly and smirking, “Now do you understand why that mirror is in the position it’s in?”

You nodded, blushing heavily and moving to kiss him sweetly, taking a very subtle enjoyment from watching your actions in a mirror. You liked how Loki moved as he kissed you, his muscles moving very slowly as his hands came up to rest on you, his fingertips squeezing very slightly. You enjoyed how you looked on him, with your body pressed flush up against his.

Loki glanced over at the mirror yet again, smirking widely when he saw you staring unabashedly at the reflection. “The next time we lie together, will you be focusing on that mirror entirely, my sweet?” He laughed, pinching your backside playfully. You squeaked, looking down at his chest and shrugging, imagining that you probably would sneak a few glances in. “I will admit, the mirror gives a wonderful view.” He said casually, as if he was discussing the weather, or the colour of a piece of fabric.

You hummed quietly, nodding in silent agreement. Loki smiled softly at you, rubbing his nose against yours in a gentle Eskimo kiss, teasing you affectionately, “Does this mean you’ll get into the bath with me? Without all of that pesky clothing adorning your luxurious curves?”

Your face heated up at the question, before you bit your lip and kissed his cheek, sitting up and sliding off the bed, casually starting to waltz towards the bathroom, making a large show of swaying your hips enticingly at him. You flipped your hair back over your shoulders, flashing a large, playful smirk at him and blowing a kiss at him before purring as seductively as you could, “Why don’t you come and find out, my lord?”


	22. Chapter 22

As you wriggled your hips, you felt Loki come up behind you, picking you up and swooping into the bathroom, already starting to attack your neck with kisses, purring seductive things enticingly into your ear.

 

X START OF LEMON X

 

You shrieked in delight, giggling like a schoolgirl as Loki set you down on the cool tiles of the bathroom floor, pinching your backside and saying in an authoritative voice laced with a seductive purr, “Fill the bath, doe.”

You gave a pleased hum, kneeling down to reach for the taps, making a prominent show of your backside, smirking when Loki made a pleasured sound in the back of his throat. “Good girl…” He sighed, stepping into the bath once it was completely filled with warm, steaming water. 

Loki motioned for you to pour in some of his usual bath oils, the room immediately filling with the warm scent of cinnamon, among other things that you couldn’t quite name. He smirked widely as you climbed in to the bath without him having to ask you to do so. 

“Very good girl.” He stated, chuckling when you have him an innocent look and make it look as if you were being shy. Your hands covered up your chest, tipping your head down demurely. 

You murmured quietly, deciding to keep up this little act of shy handmaiden, “Thank you, my lord.”

One of Loki’s brows perked up, his smirk filling out the rest of his features, deciding that he wanted to play along with your little act, taking the role of a seductive master. “Uncover yourself. I never said you could hide yourself away from me, did I?” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly when you looked up at him with wide eyes, your arms staying put at your chest. 

“Will you move them for me, or do I have to bind them behind your back so they won’t be in the way?” He pretended to have an annoyed tone in his voice, the desire in his eyes giving his true feelings away completely. 

You gave a soft squeak, slowing starting to move them from your chest, a heavy blush rising higher on your cheeks as Loki licked his lips suggestively. 

His voice was thickened with desire when he next spoke, causing a heat to start building up in your core, “Come here, Doe.”

Immediately, you did as he asked you, sliding towards him in the large bath, gasping when he reached out, grabbing you by your arms and tugging you into his lap, putting your legs on either side of his hips so that you were deliberately straddling him. You felt the tip of his cock brush against your womanhood, which was cause for you to shiver, a breathy moan escaping from your throat at the feeling of him. You leaned against him, resting your chest against his so you could wrap your arms about his shoulders. Loki’s arms slid around your waist in response, his hands spreading out to span across your back. Kissing across his shoulders and up his neck, you slowly started to roll your hips against his length, shuddering when he growled in pleasure. 

“You’re such a tempting little thing, aren’t you?” Loki groaned, smirking when you started to grind your hips over his much more roughly, proving the point that he was trying to make. 

You moaned quietly as you did so, completely distracted by the pleasure you were receiving. 

You ignored Loki’s question, surprised when he grabbed your chin and pulled you into a rough kiss before murmuring with a slight playfulness in his voice, “You didn’t answer my question.” He brushed his lips slowly over yours, stilling your hips with his other hand, “You know what happens when bad don’t answer my question, don’t you?” He murmured, moving to place kisses along your neck, stopping to leave love bites every so often across the span of your neck, visibly marking you as his. 

You shuddered slowly, your voice wavering slightly as you spoke, “Yes, my lord. I do know what happens to them.”

Loki pulled away from your neck long enough to utter one word. “What?”

Swallowing, you took a moment to think. How would Loki punish a sex-crazed handmaid that had deliberately ignored a question because she was too busy pleasuring herself on his manhood?

“They get tired up to their beds for the rest of the night and are made to watch as you take and pleasure another maid.” You finally said, watching Loki look up with a surprised gleam in his eye. He let a few fingertips graze slowly over your cheek, venturing downwards until they rested just above your womanhood, running them over the sensitive flesh there as he spoke to you. 

“And tell me, Doe. Do you want to idly watch as I take my pleasure from another woman?”

Even before the question was over, you were shaking your head furiously, strands of your hair flying about your face, moaning desperately as his hand slipped in between your legs to massage at the bundle of nerves there. “No! I want to be the one to pleasure you, my King…” 

Loki’s face moved in slight surprise before his usual winning smirk settled back on his face. He continued to rub at your clit slowly, putting things in a language that you certainly didn’t understand. But from the way his eyes darkened at the utterance of every phrase, you assumed it was stuff that would make even a dominatrix blush. He kept rubbing his fingers over the bundle of nerves until you were right about to orgasm. When you moaned out your intention of doing so, he moved his hand away, settling them on your hips and pulling you away from his manhood so that you couldn’t finish yourself off by grinding your hips against his. You squirmed about in his grasp, gasping and yelling out curses towards him for teasing you like that. 

Your core throbbed dully, your nerves aching for release. You sighed heavily, looking at him harshly and growling at him like a really pissed off cat. He ran a hand over your hips slowly, laughing quietly and kissed at your cheeks, laughing quite a bit louder when you tried to tip your head back to get away from his kisses. He tugged you back to him, setting you on his knee and kissing you deeply. “You’re much more of a spitfire than I originally thought, little doe.” 

You huffed softly, kissing him back before tipping your head and resting your forehead against his shoulder, pouting softly and whining, “I just want to have you inside of me, Loki.” You said bluntly, drawing patterns across his chest with the tips of your fingernails.   
Loki purred quietly, sliding you forward and positioning you above his manhood, smirking widely at you and pushing your hips down slowly upon him. Feeling him enter you again felt absolutely amazing, and the fact that you were used to him made the entrance just that much more pleasurable, without having to worry about moving in too fast. You pushed your hips down to the base of his cock, sighing sweetly and rolling your hips very slowly, moaning at the feel of him inside of you. He moaned sweetly along with you, kissing you again and sliding his tongue into your mouth slowly, holding you close to him as he started to move his hips in time with yours. 

“My Valkyrie…” He murmured, tipping his head back to moan much louder, his eyes fluttering closed. The two of you moved in tandem, the pleasure building quickly from the new position, and before you knew it, you felt your orgasm passing over you, sending a cold heat through your bones, your muscles tensing and releasing as you felt Loki’s own orgasm come to him, sending a soft heat through your core for the second time that night. 

The two of you sighed almost lovingly at one another, and you leant forward to steal another kiss from him, moving yourself away from his hips to curl up next to him, pressing soft kisses against his chest and across his collarbone sweetly. You smiled happily at him, giggling as he ran his hands up and down your spine, tickling at the skin there softly. 

 

X END OF LEMON X

 

The two of you stayed in the bath for a little while longer, with the two of you murmuring gentle things towards one another, before you blinked, a thought passing you’re your head, “How do you think Dana will react to this?” You motioned to the both of you, biting your lip and chewing on it. 

Loki gave a gentle shrug, giving a soft sigh in thought, “I’m not sure.” He looked at you seriously, “But she will not become so angry that she takes it out on you. Then, she will answer to me.” 

You gave a soft shudder; shaking your head and looking up at him with wide eyes, “Don’t punish her for that. Her anger would just come because she was worried.”

Loki scoffed, waving his hand and shaking his head, “Her anger should be dealt with in a way that doesn’t require her to yell. I won’t have her yelling at you for who you choose to make love to. That is final, (Name).” He looked at you pointedly, signalling that the talk was over. 

You gave a quiet sigh, nodding slowly and tugging a hand through your hair slowly, nuzzling him and murmuring, “Are you going to have me share your bed from now on?” You smirked, tapping his chest and starting to move away, exiting the bath and moving to dry yourself off. You felt Loki’s eyes on you as you did so, laughing quietly and turning your head to face him, giving a soft wink and tossing a towel at his head, “Out of the bath now, my King. We mustn’t keep you up too late.” You affectionately patted his cheek as he followed your orders, giggling as he rolled his eyes playfully. 

“Yes, we all know how grumpy I get when I lack proper rest.” He played, running the towel across his body and watching you as you ran the towel through your hair to dry it off. He tilted his head off to the side, waving his hands around, drawing a confused noise from you as you saw a green haze cross over your body, an ivory chiffon and lace night gown covering your form. You glanced down, raising a brow at how sheer it was, laughing and motioning to yourself. 

“You definitely don’t enjoy keeping your lover’s form left to the imagination. You can still see everything!” You teased, running your hands over the soft material. 

Loki shrugged slowly, a smirk playing on his lips as he tugged you close to him, kissing you gently and murmuring, “Why wouldn’t I want to admire my Valkyrie’s lovely form?” He drew his fingertips teasingly across your chest, chewing on his bottom lip, “A body as beautiful as yours should never be left to the imagination.”

You blushed heavily, gasping and turning away, covering your face and trying to hide the giant smile that took over your face quickly, “Oh, god! You’re so much more romantic that I thought you were! That’s… So adorable!” You gasped, spinning back around and throwing your arms about him, giggling quietly. 

Loki gave a soft sigh, chuckling and kissing your nose gently, shaking his head and scooping you up in his arms once again and taking you back into his room, setting you very gently on the bed and kissing you softly before going to put on a pair of linen pants. You curled up underneath the many silk and fur blankets, sighing happily and feeling as if you were curled up on a cloud. 

Loki turned back to face you, his eyes softening as he gazed upon you, his heart shuddering with happiness as he came to lie next to you, a hand immediately coming to curl up in your hair. You purred softly, sliding closer and nuzzling at his chest, nipping at his nose playfully. 

“Goodnight, my Loki.” You sighed happily, already falling asleep due to how comfortable the bed was. Loki smiled widely down at you, pressing a chaste kiss at your temple, snapping his fingers and watching the light in the room flicker out as the candles were snuffed out by several glowing green tendrils. After a few moments, the only light in the room was from a sinking moon in the sky, smiling happily upon both you and Loki as it sank lower and lower in the sky. 

Loki didn’t fall asleep for a long while, content to simply gaze down at you as you slept within the glow of the moonlight, your breathing content and even, your face more relaxed than it had ever been since you had come here. 

_Loki’s POV_

It was very early in the morning when I heard the call. With a soft, extremely displeased grumble I pulled myself away from (Name), pulling on a shirt and exiting to my sitting room, a growing aggravation settling low in my chest. 

Thanos stood in the centre of the room, his arms crossed as he looked around the lavish room, his gaze slowly drifting towards me as I entered, scanning my form over as if he was critiquing my appearance. His voice was like a hiss, making my skin want to crawl away from it. I grit my teeth, fighting not to shiver from the discomfort his voice brought to me. 

“Is this how the king of Midgard presents himself to his guest?” Thanos smirked, thinking that he was being amusing. I simply rolled my eyes, snapping my fingers and appearing to him in full battle armour in less than the blink of an eye. 

I motioned to myself roughly, taking a languid seat on a high-backed armchair, growling low in my throat, “Am I supposed to care what I look like when I am meeting with you? Especially when you come before a maid has woken me for the morning?” I motioned to the pink dawn that was starting to make its way through the windows. “I wake up after the sun has already made itself visible in the sky.”

Thanos made a soft noise, looking at me intensely, taking in a deep breath, his expression changing into that of disgust. “Have you taken another one of your maids to bed? You smell like a woman.”

With a hardened look, I met his gaze, even though everything inside of my head simply told me to act with much less forwardness. “No. I didn’t.” I lied easily, passing a hand through my hair and glancing away in order to stare at the empty fireplace, flicking my hand towards it to start a blazing fire before looking back at him with a look of boredom in my eyes, “Are you simply here to annoy me? Or do you actually have something important to say?”

Thanos hissed softly, his hand reaching out slowly. I felt my breath constrict in my throat, making it much harder to breathe. My hands gripped at the arms of the chair, forcing myself not to start coughing and sputtering while silently begging for air. I was a god, I had lain through torture more times than I could ever count, the lack of breath through my lungs wasn’t as terrible as Thanos probably thought it was. 

Thanos hissed softly, a dark aura manifesting around the tall man, growling low in an ancient language that I knew all too well. It was the type of language a master used to a servant, the language that forced servants into submission, “Don’t you dare start to use such an attitude with me, you pitiful excuse for a god. Do not ever forget whom you serve. Or I won’t hesitate to kill the girl who sleeps within your bed.”

I looked at him with dark eyes, pretending to act as if I didn’t care. “Oh? Will you? Is that the best that you can do? Kill a stupid little Midgardian girl?” I forced a laugh from the little air that was left in my lungs, “You seem to think of me as spineless, as someone who would care about the life of someone else more than my own.”

Thanos smirked widely, glaring down at me before his gaze flicked to the door of my chambers, nodding very slowly and cracking each of his knuckles one by one, eyeing the door as if he would do something, “Perhaps later I’ll take you up on that offer. I grow tired of this interaction. I was simply here to see how you fared, nothing more. I’m rather disappointed in this place.”

I rolled my eyes, hissing softly, “If you mean to tell me that you wish things to change so that the people are forced to cower even more than they do, I won’t have it. Their pleading is pathetic, and it wears on my nerves.” I chuckled softly, adding off hand, “But not like you would know what it feels like.”

Again, Thanos hissed, coming towards me and wrapping his hands about my throat, leaving a deep purple bruise the moment his skin touched mine. His touch left a searing pain on my skin, as if he was burning something into my skin with a branding iron. I gasped softly, my eyes widening as he leaned close, rancid breath fanning over my face as he spoke, “You are not as strong as you think. You’re soft.”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes and glaring up at him, “Am I really? Hush now, you’re starting to sound as if you’re getting jealous of something that you can’t have.”

Thanos glared daggers at me, before stepping away and disappearing, leaving as quickly as he had come. I sat back heavily in my chair, nursing my throat with gentle touches, nearly jumping out of my chair when I heard (Name)’s soft voice come from the doorway. 

“My Loki?” She said softly, leaning out of the door and looking along the room. 

I turned to face her, making sure to hide my bruised neck from her gaze, giving her a gentle smile, “Good morning, my sweet. Did you sleep well?” 

She nodded slowly, giving me a tired smile as she came further into the room, shuffling over and running her hands through her soft hair. I smiled gently at her, my heart warming as she rubbed gently at her eyes, stifling a yawn and coming to curl up on my lap, not noticing the bruises at my neck as she closed her eyes once again as she settled down on my lap. 

I brushed a hand over her hair gently, kissing the crown of her head softly as I wrapped an arm about her waist to keep her close to me. She looked out the window slowly, raising a brow and murmuring, “Wow, this is the earliest I’ve woken up in a long time.” She gave a quiet laugh, turning to look at me, her eye widening as her gaze fell upon the bruise at my neck, gasping and nearly screaming in surprise. I hushed her with a gentle caress on her cheek, kissing her nose and murmuring, “Hush, hush, my love. Don’t worry about it.”

(Name) blinked, shaking her head and muttering something under her breath, her eyes scanning across the bruise slowly, before she shook her head, sniffing softly, “Is this from the man who Dana saw with you?” 

I gave a quiet sigh, running a hand over my face and looking away from her, almost ashamed to admit it to her. I felt weak admitting such a thing to her, and it almost made me feel as if I was pathetic. I sighed quietly, nodding slowly and looking down at the fire, “Yes, my love. It was.”


	23. Chapter 23

_Dana’s POV_

When I woke up the next morning, I fully expected to see (Name), snuggled up in her bed with the dress she had been wearing when she went to see Loki haphazardly strewn across the end of her bed. However, when I finally noticed that her bed was in the exact same shape as when she had left it the morning prior, I sat up as straight as an arrow in my bed, nearly hitting Steve square in the face with one of my elbows. Steve’s hands immediately tightened around my waist protectively, his eyes opening slowly as he gave a soft groan from being woken up by my sudden movements. 

A large frown plastered itself over my face immediately, gritting my teeth and looking over to the bathroom, hoping that (Name) would at least be in there. But, when the door was wide open, the lights inside of the large room off, I shuddered in the realization that she must have spent the night with Loki.

 _She spent the night with him? God, I hope he didn’t put her under some sick spell!_ I thought frantically, my heart suddenly starting to speed up as I began to think of all of the unsavory things that might have happened to (Name).

About a minute later, Steve finally managed to discern what was going on, lifting his head up and looking over (Name)’s bed, before his gaze flicked over to the bathroom, giving a short growl as he finally came to realize everything that I had. 

I looked over at Steve helplessly, swallowing heavily and looking up at him with wide, curious eyes. I wanted to know what we should do. My thoughts were screaming for me to run into Loki’s room and demand answers, but my more rational thoughts were telling me that I shouldn’t try to muddle. It would only bring a giant shit-storm into play, and I definitely didn’t want that to happen. 

I took a deep breath, exhaling shakily and watching as Steve looked at me, his thoughts moving around in his head much like my own were. 

We were a lot alike when it came to things like that. We always wanted to find out what was happening, and we often weren’t afraid to put our thoughts into action. But the fact that Steve was weakened due to being in a dark cell for months, and I couldn’t fight for myself with the restrictive cotton that the dress was made up of. Steve leaned down to kiss my cheek softly, sighing and murmuring at my ear, “Give it another hour, when Loki gets served breakfast. Then, when his maids are coming from his room, you can question them.”

I nodded slowly, my heart still pounding from anxiety and fear about the situation. Sure, I started to trust Loki a little more after he had openly let Steve come out of his cell in order to stay with me, but that barely changed a thing. 

Even though he was only a puppet, he was still a god, and had powers that I had grown up thinking were simply fairy tales. If he was truly angry, truly threatened by something, there was definitely no telling what he would be able to do. 

I didn’t trust him, or what he might end up doing if I came in with Steve at my back, immediately yelling accusations. 

I gave a brisk nod once again, solidifying the plan in my brain, convinced it was the best plan of action. That way, I wouldn’t put anyone in danger. 

I looked over at Steve slowly, pressing my lips on his shoulder sleepily, leaning against him heavily and smiling very slowly when I felt his arms wrap around my back in order to secure me to him. 

“I’m going to go and take a bath.” I said after a while, closing my eyes and opening them after a few moments, tugging myself from the calming warmth of Steve’s arms. He caught my wrist as I slipped away from him, stopping me from moving as I turned my head to look at him. “You want to join me?” I smirked lightly, tapping his nose with the tip of my finger, stifling a giggle at the soft blush that appeared on the apples of his cheeks. 

_Really, how many times have we seen each other without clothes on? He’s acting like it’s his first time seeing a girl naked! Such a dork…_ I thought affectionately, leaning down to give him a very gentle kiss before tugging him off of the bed, grunting when he didn’t immediately follow me into the bathroom. I tugged on his arm a little harder, giving a pleased squeak when he complied with what I wanted. 

X

Sitting on Steve’s lap, I ran a small towel over my hair, squeezing out every bit of water that I could, before letting my fingers drift through it gently in order to get out any of the knots that might have formed when I was washing it. I winced as I tugged on a stubborn knot, sighing heavily and slowly working the knot out of my hair. Steve simply held me on his lap, having dried off rather quickly after we had gotten out of the bath, wearing an old pair of sweatpants that I had been wearing on the day I had been brought in to become a maid. 

“Steve…” I started, not entirely sure if I wanted to ask the question, since I was rather certain that I would never see the outside again for more than a few moments. I wouldn’t be able to resume a new life, really. 

Would I grow old in here? Working until I was no longer able to? I shuddered at the thought, immediately turning to hide my face in Steve’s neck. 

“What is it, doll face?” He asked gingerly, immediately going to kiss my temple, walking a hand slowly over my spine. 

I took in a slightly ragged breath, groaning at how bent out of shape I was getting from some stray thought. 

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to have a normal life with one another?” I asked quietly, looking at the window helplessly, not wanting to see the look that crossed over his face as he listened to my question. 

His hand stilled, and he hesitated for a few moments, unable to present his air of confident super-soldier for a couple of moments. When he recovered, he cleared his throat, his voice soft and gentle, as if he was trying to console a child. “I don’t know. Even if we manage to get out of here, the world has changed drastically. It definitely won’t be what you grew up with.”

I nodded, swallowing thickly and clenching my hands together, hissing under my breath, “Damn Loki, damn them all. This is not how I wanted to live my life. I wanted…” I gave a soft, almost bitter laugh, “I wanted to marry you, and I wanted to have a nice little house out in the suburbs…” I trailed off, immediately wanting to change the subject. But, I couldn’t find anything else to say, my thoughts and emotions now consumed with what I was convinced would never be. 

However, when I heard the soft turning of a door handle, I immediately looked up in fear that it was some guard, or someone else that would be coming to do something terrible. But it was completely the opposite. 

(Name) stepped through the door, her golden dress draped loosely over her arms, a content look softening her features. She wore a simple silk dress, definitely different from any dress I had seen her wear before. And it definitely wasn’t something that marked her as a servant. It looked as if it was fit for a queen, something for a queen to simply lie about in and not worry about a thing in the world. 

She gave me a quiet smile, gingerly lying the golden dress on her bed and moving to fold it quietly, before placing it in the chest at the end of her bed. When she was finished, she looked at me with a smile, sitting on her bed and leaning back comfortably. 

Immediately, my concern and fear came out of me, in the form of a dramatic yell, followed by forceful yelling that might have been mistaken as anger. 

I stood up quickly, pointing at her, tears brimming at my eyes, my voice wavering very slightly as I confronted her, “Where in the world were you last night? Didn’t you think that you should have at least come to warn us before you spend an entire night in Loki’s room? Do you know what he could have done to you? Are you forgetting that this is the man who’s willingly keeping us as servants? _What in the hell were you thinking?_ ” I finally finished, my voice hollow as tears openly streamed down my cheeks. I wasn’t angry at her, not really, just terrified of what could have happened. 

But (Name) didn’t see that, her eyes immediately hardening, her body becoming stiff, almost as if she was ready to jump up and fight me if I came any closer to her. 

“What was I thinking?” She repeated, her voice cold and filled with an anger that I had no idea that she had in her. I was confused in an instant. Why in the world was she getting so defensive? 

I nodded quietly, a little too shocked to actually say anything. 

(Name) stood up defensively, her voice lowered to absolute seriousness, pointing a finger at me, “I’ll tell you what I was thinking, Dana. I was thinking that I’m not some idiot who just fears Loki because of what she thinks he is. I’ve realized that he’s not a monster, not what _you_ like to accuse him of being.” She paused, stepping closer and staring right into my eyes. “And I don’t care what you think about me spending the night. I love him, Dana.”

I blinked several times, my mind absolutely blank as to what to say next. I coughed softly, swiping at the tears on my face, “I never was going to accuse you! Can’t you see that I was afraid of what might happen to you? And I’m sorry if I don’t see what you do in him, but I’m a little skeptical when it comes to mysterious gods suddenly descending from the sky and deciding to take over the world!” I finished weakly, groaning and sitting back down on the bed, absolutely confused and hurt that (Name) would suddenly start acting so unfriendly towards me. 

(Name) crossed her arms defiantly, looking off to the side and laughing softly, “And would you still be skeptical if he let you free?”

I nearly gasped at her question. That was all I wanted, to not work for him anymore, to be able to choose my own life, to be able to be out of this place and have some semblance of freedom. “Why?” I asked, avoiding her question, “Did he offer to set me free?”

(Name) shook her head slowly, and my heart plummeted, visibly slumping and leaning back against the bed frame, “No, but I’m sure it can be arranged. He trusts me.” She gave me a bitter look, almost a glare, and I wanted to scream at her to quit acting like this. Instead, I simply slumped further, assured that nothing would actually happen. I looked at her blankly, not wanting to argue anymore about it. 

“Just tell me you’re alright.” I managed softly, my fingertips ghosting over the frame slowly, staring off into the distance. 

(Name) nodded slowly, “Of course I am.” She looked at me with a hard look once again, “I just wanted to come and tell you that I was okay. And to tell you I’m going to be mostly in Loki’s room from now on.”

I gave a slow shrug, giving her a ghost of a smile, trying to feign the fact that I wasn’t extremely hurt inside from how… Defensive she was being. “Thank you… That’s all I wanted to know. I want to make sure you’re safe.”

(Name) gave a curt nod, a flash of something strange moving through her eyes, before she spun on her heel and left the room quickly, closing the door rather harshly on her way out. 

I let a hand come up to my mouth, letting my eyes shut tightly as I let out another pained sob, hissing quietly, “I swear, if Loki is leading her on with something… I’m going to personally tear his heart out.”

 

 _Your POV_

As soon as you shut the door behind you, you heard Dana start to cry again. You blinked slowly, looking back at the doorway and feeling your heart sink. What in the world had you been thinking? You gave a quiet sigh to yourself, gritting your teeth and opening the door again, the apologies spilling out of your mouth like a waterfall. 

You didn’t know what had gotten into you, perhaps it was the way Dana had confronted you, and the fact you hadn’t been able to tell that it wasn’t anger she was using in her tone, it was confusion and anxiety. You ran over to hug her quickly, gasping softly and saying about a thousand more apologies to her. 

When you stopped, Dana held you at arm’s length, looking at you with red rimmed eyes, her jaw set to keep it from trembling. She looked at you calmly, seriously, her voice rough from all of her tears. “I’m happy that you aren’t angry at me for no reason at all. But I am still cautious of your relationship with Loki.” She rose a brow when you gave her a stern look, “Come on, this whole ‘love’ thing came up last night, no talk of anything beforehand. It seems a little weird to me.”

You could only shrug, looking down and giving her a shy smile, “I guess I just saw who he really was, and my heart couldn’t resist what was inside of him.”

Dana nodded quietly, choosing not to say anything. She pecked your cheek gently, giving you a gentle push off towards the door, “Go and fawn over Loki some more. I’m still tired.”

You gave a curt nod, patting her head and turning on your heel, feeling much better about yourself, now that everything seemed to be forgiven. You blinked, suddenly remembering the door that you had seen yesterday afternoon, giving Dana a look as you turned back around, your hand resting on the door handle. 

“There was this door I found yesterday. It looked like the same door that Steve was behind…” You trailed off, fiddling with your fingers and biting your lip, “You should go and see what’s behind it, if I can’t get to it first.” You paused to blush, looking at the floor and fiddling with the fabric of your dress. 

Dana gave a slow blink, looking at you curiously, “Where is it?”

“Just past our room, go up the hall, past Loki’s doors, and down a darkened hallway. That door is at the end of the hall.” You rattled off, imagining in your head the route you had taken to get to it. Your friend gave you a slow nod, looking off to the side in order to put all of the information in her head. 

“Down the hall, dark hallway. Got it.” She repeated to you, looking back up and giving you a soft smile. You nodded, opening the door once again and moving down the hall quickly, coming back into Loki’s room and giving him a broad smile when you spied him lounging on his couch, flipping through a small book. It was evident he was only going through the motions, not really reading anything that was on the page. It was almost as if he was just trying to do something to pass the time so he wouldn’t die of boredom waiting for you to come back. 

“So, the almighty king of Midgard can’t even find something to entertain himself for ten minutes while his lover is gone?” You teased, trotting over to him and placing yourself in his lap as you brushed your lips across his cheek gently. He closed the book with a dull snap, giving you a wide grin and bending his head to claim your lips with his own. 

“I think that’s what it amounts to, my sweet. You’ve been so entertaining these past few hours everything else just seems so dull now.” He said silkily, wrapping his arm around your waist in order to pull you closer to him, moving his lips down to place gentle kisses along his neck. You leaned against him happily, a small smile brimming on your lips, before you thought of something again. 

“Love…” You started, moving to trail a hand through his smooth, raven locks, giving him a sweet smile, “I know it’s probably a lot to ask of you, but I was wondering if you and I could see the city sometime.” You gave him a gentle pout to plead your case further, “It’s just so boring in this castle now, and I haven’t seen the outside world in months.”

Loki got a hard look on his face for a fraction of a second, his hands tightening around your hips as he gave a soft sigh. “I can allow you to walk in the gardens… But, I’m afraid that if I let you outside of the city, rebel groups would openly try to attack you.” He pressed a kiss against your lips again, “That, or Thanos would try to do something funny, since we would no longer be within the protected walls of the castle.”

You frowned, but nodded, happy that you would be allowed to wander about in the gardens. At least then, you’d be outside. 

“What about Dana?” You added, wondering if Loki would let her have the same freedom he was so easily giving to you. At this, Loki thought for a long while, before tipping his head back to gaze at the ceiling. 

“As long as she is with you. I don’t trust the girl enough not to try and escape if she’s not under supervision.” He said, looking at you out of the corner of his eye as he played with a loose strand of your hair.

You gave a quiet sigh, nodding, at least happy that Dana would get to go outside with you. You knew that if you were the only one able to venture into the gardens, Dana would feel terribly annoyed, not just at Loki, but you as well. She definitely wasn’t the type who appreciated being held back while others got more freedoms than her. 

“Thank you.” You said sweetly, pressing a happy kiss against Loki’s forehead, before kissing your way down his face and finally locking lips with him once again, happy to find that he was still very eager to kiss you as deeply as he desired. 

In fact, the two of you were so consumed in one another, you barely heard the breakfast maids coming in, setting down two trays of food and watching in surprise as the two of you completely ignored the rest of the world. The maids shared a secretive glance, throwing a smirk at one another before exiting as quietly as they had come in, convinced that you were just another one of Loki’s little trysts, and that you’d be thrown out before long. 

You broke away from Loki when you smelled food, sharing a laugh with him when the two of you realized that the both of you had completely ignored the maids. You stood up happily, moving to fetch the two trays, balancing the both of them in the arms and setting them down on the coffee table that was in front of the small couch that Loki was on. You settled down next to him, smiling wide and hearing your stomach rumble suddenly as you took in the sight of the food on the tray. You began eating immediately, sighing in satisfaction as you did so. 

You could most definitely get used to being in love with Loki, especially if you got fed like a queen.


	24. Chapter 24

You yawned in boredom as you leaned back against the armrest of the decadent throne Loki was currently occupying. You looked over at him quietly, resisting the urge to rest your hand on the top of his head and start to stroke his hair. Instead, you placed your hand on his, which was lazily resting on your knee, his thumb slowly drifting along the fabric of your dress. He was currently speaking to a young man, who was coming in to tell him about something you honestly didn’t think was a big deal. 

You glanced off to the side, chewing on the inside of your lip and thinking to yourself, _I wonder if this is what monarchs back in the dark ages went through. God, that must’ve sucked. No wonder they all wanted to fight each other all the time…_

You heard Loki give a soft groan in the back of his throat, too soft for anyone to hear except for you and him. You glanced at him slowly; perking a brow slowly and watching the man turn on his heel in a frustrated fashion and walking out of the throne room quickly. A guard leaned in to Loki, opening his mouth to speak before Loki waved his hand dismissively. You watched the guard step away slowly before turning your gaze back down to Loki. 

Loki stood very slowly, putting his hands to his face and scrubbing them over his eyes, shaking his head. You followed suit, placing a hand gently against his shoulder blade, pressing a kiss against his cheek. “Are you done holding court for today?” You asked, smiling gently as Loki moved his hand to rest at your waist. 

He gave you a slow nod, smirking when he heard your stomach grumble softly. “You’re hungry.” He said, stepping away from you to motion towards a guard, who immediately walked off in the direction of the kitchen. Loki then led you forward, pressing a firm kiss against your lips as he took your towards the dining room. You gave a quiet laugh as you followed next to him, sighing sweetly and looking up at him affectionately. 

The king ran a hand down your side slowly, leading you into the sprawling dining room and sitting you down in a chair next to the head of the table. 

You gave him a soft smile, settling back in the plush dining chair and sighing contentedly, playing with a strand of your hair and biting your lip as you observed it. “My hair needs washing.” You drawled quietly, tipping your head lazily to the side in order to look at Loki.

He smiled at you softly, reaching over and grasping the strand in between his fingertips and twirling it, “We can take a bath together.” He purred softly, his green eyes flashing with playful mischief. You gave a quiet laugh, looking to the side when a few servants came in silently, setting various trays of food on the table, just enough for the two of you. 

When they exited, shutting the door behind them, you resumed speaking with him. “Mm… Maybe I had plans tonight.”

Loki gave you a look, raising a brow slowly and tipping his head, “Like what? Lying in bed and trying to discern the patterns on your ceiling?” 

You gave a curt nod, leaning forward in order to grab a piece of warm bread, tearing off a small piece and popping the fluffy baked food into your mouth. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I had planned, actually.”

Loki sighed quietly, shaking his head and filling his plate up with food. It was clear he was hungrier than usual, the both of you having skipped dinner the previous night because of… ahem… certain activities. You were surprised that your stomach wasn’t trying to eat itself by now, and that you’d only noticed your hunger just now. You gave a slow shrug, pouring yourself a tall glass of water and drinking it slowly, smiling slowly as Loki paid particular attention to a certain food item. You didn’t really know what it was, but you knew it was some sort of bread stuffed with minced meat and carrots. 

“I assume you enjoy whatever that is?”

Loki shook his head slowly, clicking his tongue and giving you a quick glance as he called in a decanter of pale wine, shifting his fingers in order to make the liquid pour into his glass. “Not at all, actually. I only tolerate them.” He gave you a sly smile, taking a long sip of his wine. 

You gave a quiet laugh, taking a few of the stuffed bread pastries and trying them out for yourself. You made a happy hum of enjoyment when the taste hit your tongue, gasping happily and taking several more bites at once, your hunger immediately turning you ravenous. 

“That’s no way for a lady to eat. You look like a rabid animal.” Loki said coolly, even though the tease definitely didn’t go over your head. You paused slowly, sticking your tongue out at him after you swallowed your mouthful of food. You pulled a small bowl towards you, taking several happy bites of the thick stew that you had come to adore. 

You knew that most of the food on the table was Asgardian, which you could really only identify in the most basic of terms. But all of it was absolutely heavenly, and you weren’t sure if you could ever eat food cooked outside of the castle. You wondered briefly if this is what kind of food Loki grew up eating, since he was one of the princes of Asgard. 

And, of course Loki seemed to read your mind just then, murmuring after he swallowed his wine, “Yes, except it was better, because it was cooked by cooks who were renowned through all of the nine realms.”

You practically moaned at the thought of the food being even better, your hunger still clearly controlling you. You blushed when you realised it, pulling away from your bowl of stew, immediately wiping away a small dribble of broth falling down your chin with a napkin. Loki laughed very softly, shaking his head and sighing softly. “Oh, darling… Whatever will I do with you?” He said affectionately, leaning over with his own napkin and wiping away a bit of stew that had gotten on your cheek. 

You shrugged slowly, a blush still raging on your cheeks as you watched Loki take a long sip of his wine, sighing and deciding to climb into his lap. He gave a small noise of surprise in the back of his throat, but wrapped an arm around your waist securely, smirking and holding a deep purple grape in front of your lips, silently telling you to eat it. You did so with a sly smirk, wrapping your lips around the grape and letting your teeth sink into the soft fruit slowly, tugging it from Loki’s grip and sucking it all the way into your mouth, chewing it happily and turning to look at him. 

Loki’s brows perked slowly as you chewed, blinking when you pat his cheek gently, moving to steal one of the bread pastries off of his plate. Loki gave a small sigh, giving you a look and sliding the plate off to the side in order to keep you from stealing them any further, “Quit that.” He huffed, watching you eat his food with a slightly annoyed look in his emerald eyes. 

 

You pressed a kiss on his cheek, grasping the hand that was holding his glass and tugging it towards your lips, managing a small sip before he tugged his hand away from your mouth. “Make me.” You said with a feigned innocence, batting your eyelashes at him for good measure. 

You king rolled his eyes slowly, closing his eyes and covering them with a hand, “Really, do you ever stop being so difficult?” 

Tilting your head to the side and placing the tip of your finger upon your chin, you pretended to think for a moment before you chirped happily at him. “No, of course not! That wouldn’t be any fun.”

Your king sighed quietly, turning back to his food and taking a few slow bites before turning back to you again, “Does your friend still wish to go to the gardens this afternoon?”

“Yeah, of course she does. She loves it out there.” You said softly, taking a sip of your water and studying his face, wondering why he was asking. 

He nodded once again, pushing his plate away from him and turning towards you in his seat, taking one of your hands and pressing a gentle kiss over your fingers. “Then attend her. I have a private meeting this afternoon, and I don’t want him to be suspecting anything.”

You bit your lip, a small bundle of nervous energy forming in your core, causing you to shudder. You felt your blood chill at the mere mention of the man Loki had to speak to. You hated the fact you felt scared, but how could you not? A man that even made Loki tremble was bound to make you feel fearful as well. Loki sensed this, moving the hand that was holding yours and letting it rest against your cheek, his thumb tracing lazy arcs across your cheekbone. 

“Fear not, my sweet thing. He cannot hurt you if he’s merely an apparition of himself. The realm he resides on is much too far from here for him to do much but project his image.” He said softly, giving you a soft look, his emerald eyes turning warm and molten. 

You gave a quiet, somewhat shaky sigh as you nodded, giving him a gentle smile and leaning forward to press a kiss against his lips. He kissed you back very softly, letting his hand drift into your hair and curl into your locks. You gave a content sigh, feeling the nervous anxiety start to fizzle away slowly as Loki’s lips worked their magic on you. 

He pulled away from you after a few short moments, giving you an encouraging smile and gently pushing you from his lap, motioning his head towards the door, saying, “Go to Dana, take her on a walk through the gardens, and I’ll let you know when I’m finished.”

You nodded somewhat obediently, not wanting to leave his side, but definitely not wanting to argue with him and make him upset before his meeting. You quickly pressed a kiss to his cheek, before you picked up your skirts and shuffling off back towards the room that you and Dana had shared before you started to sleep with Loki. You knocked on the door cautiously, hoping that you weren’t interrupting anything intimate between the two. Thankfully, Dana opened the door quickly, looking as if she had just taken a bath, her hair hanging in dark blue strands along the side of her face. She gave you a pretty smile, opening the door wider and stepping back, twisting a wet strand of hair around her fingers. “Hey there, you’re getting bored of Loki already?”

You scoffed, shaking your head and stepping inside of the room, pausing to give a friendly smile in Steve’s direction, who was lounging on Dana’s bed with a book propped open in one of his hands. “No, he’s just having a meeting. And we’re gonna go on a walk in the garden.”

Dana beamed widely, sighing happily and rushing over to the side of her bed to slip on her shoes, tugging on the heels to make them sit on her feet properly. “You have no clue how long I’ve been waiting to go outside again!” She said happily, smiling widely at you and practically hopping over to you. 

Steve gave a soft chuckle from where he was sitting, sitting his book down on his lap and closing it with a finger between the pages, “Doll face, you sound like an excited cat.” 

Dana shot him a look before sticking her tongue out at him, glancing back at you and immediately starting towards the door, “I don’t care! Are you gonna come or not?”

Steve shook his head slowly, smiling softly. “You two can catch up, this book has all of my attention right now.” He waved at the two of you as you exited the room, taking the quickest route to the garden. 

The two of you chattered as if you hadn’t seen each other for years, and it almost certainly felt like it, especially since you had spent the last few days exclusively with Loki, and Dana was off doing smaller tasks across the large castle. Did you think it was fair that Dana still had to do work while you sat and cuddled with the king all day? Of course you did, but every time you asked Loki if you could go back to working a little, he just tugged you closer and told you that you were working. And your position was being his lover. 

You always rolled your eyes and laughed to yourself, and soon after becoming distracted with the intoxicating kisses that Loki gave to you. 

You found yourself hiding a blush as you walked into the bright, sunlit gardens of the castle, immediately starting down the path that the both of you favoured. Dana swung her arms about her slowly, looking around at the various flowers that lined the grass pathway. She gave you a slow smile, reaching up to absentmindedly tugging on a strand of hair. “So, how has Loki been treating you?”

You laughed quietly, giving her a playful smirk, “I think you should be asking how I’m treating him.”

She rose a brow, “Hopefully you’re being an adorable brat.”

“Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be? It’s hilarious to see him put his head in his hands and groan about my behaviour.” You smiled widely, laughing with Dana when she tipped her head back to let out a very amused chuckle. 

She gave you a winning smirk, “I would pay to see that.”

You shrugged, tipping your head back and forth as you walked, smiling at the breeze that cooled your still-blushing cheeks. “Well, you could always come to dinner with us.” You sighed contentedly, rubbing your stomach in the happy memory of the food you just had. “The food is absolutely heavenly. It’s Asgardian food, most of it.”

Dana gave a slow nod, laughing quietly and looking at you, “I’ve been to Norway before, and I seem to remember there being a lot of seafood.” 

You smirked slightly, “It’s nothing like that. There’s a lot of roast meat, and… Bread. The bread is absolutely amazing!”

Dana gave you a soft laugh, tapping her chin with the tips of her nails and nodding to herself in thought, “Sounds nice. I could use more than beef stew I snag from the kitchens every night.”

You clicked your tongue quietly, moving to sit on a bench that was surrounded by several bushes of white roses. You played with a large open bloom, running your fingertips over the smooth petals and sighing happily. “It’s really nice out today. I’m surprised that it isn’t raining.” You motioned to the clouds somewhere off in the distance. 

Dana laughed softly, “Yeah, it is… I’m happy my allergies aren’t going berserk right now from all of these blooming flowers.” She huffed as she poked at her nose, sniffling softly and glaring off into the distance, “Oh, damn you. I didn’t mean for you to start up now!” She said to nothing at all, shaking her head and giving you a desperate look. 

You looked back at her sympathetically, patting her shoulder and laughing quietly as she stifled a sneeze, sighing heavily and putting her hand over her nose, as if she could block out the pollen that was irritating her. 

“Are you happier now? That you actually get to go outside?” You asked her, watching her expression as she glanced over at you. 

She gave a slow shrug, looking off to the side, “I’m really grateful that I get to come out here, and I guess you could say I’m happier… But of course I can’t be entirely pleased with the fact I’m still stuck in here.” She paused for a moment, “Even if Loki isn’t as terrible as I used to think he was.” 

You gave a gasp in a very teasing fashion, smirking slightly at her and leaning towards her in shock, “Did you just willingly admit that Loki isn’t absolutely terrible?”

Dana narrowed her eyes at you, shaking her head slowly and giving a slow sigh, “Oh, I wish I could take it back now.” 

X

You curled up with Loki in the sofa that the two of you had very much come to favour over the last few days, Loki’s hands twirling in the air around the both of you, a gentle green mist swirling around his elegantly moving hands. You watched very quietly, entranced by the simple magic he was weaving in the air. He murmured very softly to himself in an ancient language, chuckling quietly as he directed the green mist towards certain objects into the room and turning them into something completely different from what they were. 

You smiled up at him, kissing his jaw gently and sighing happily, “You should conjure up a cat for me.”

He perked a brow, smirking slowly and putting a pillow on your lap before casting one of his spells, the pillow shifting suddenly into a small black cat with shimmering gold eyes. You gasped in delight, immediately picking up the squirming kitten and holding him to your chest. The small kitten meowed quietly at you, a soft purr rumbling in his chest as you cuddled him close to you. 

“How long will the spell last?” You asked curiously, sure that the kitten would turn back into a pillow any moment now. Loki gave you a slow smile. 

“That’s just the beauty of it, my dear. The kitten can remain as it is indefinitely, it’s simply up to me to take away the magical property that I’ve given to your cat.”

You giggled to yourself, smirking, “So… A part of yourself is in this cat… That means… I can call him…” You paused, thinking of a potential name for the cat that was currently crawling on to your shoulder. 

“Lokitty!” You chirped after a few moments, immediately being met with an exasperated groan from your king. He laughed softly after a few moments, looking at the cat and scratching between his ears gently. 

He shook his head slowly, moving his eyes back to look at yours. “Lokitty? That’s a terribly original name.” He drawled lazily, smiling softly at the mischievous kitten, “But I assume it does fit.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted on my DeviantArt a really long time ago, and I thought that I should bring it over to AO3, so even more people could read it! I know that people have really liked it over on DeviantArt, and I hope that you all do too!
> 
>  
> 
> And no worries, this isn't stolen, simply transferred over, and I really didn't want to try to import it from DevArt, because I'm afraid my laptop will implode and the fabric of time will tear if I try.


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